


Unravel

by Silverkleptofox



Category: Percy Jackson and related fandoms
Genre: Angst, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of War, PTSD, WWII, nico's past, polyamory between deities, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8235298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverkleptofox/pseuds/Silverkleptofox
Summary: There are twelve years missing from Nico's life, twelve years that he cannot recall except in half-there feelings and shadows of memory. It is something he as finally come to accept. But the powers that be will not let him rest. His memories are returning with a vengeance, and Nico must figure out how to make them stop, or risk losing his way of life.Or so he thinks.





	1. It All Started With A Song

As the weather turned colder and the leaves began to change, and Nico returned to staying at Camp Half-Blood full-time, or at least as full-time as a Ghost King could manage. 

If he were only here on the weekends, as he was during the months that Persephone walked the earth, he wouldn't have been drafted into the minutiae of camp life. Today, that meant clearing out the storage rooms in the Apollo cabin attic. 

"Remind me again how you pulled me into this?" Nico asked dryly as he plopped down yet another dusty box in the middle of the room. He and his boyfriend, Will, had been going through containers all morning organizing what was to be kept and what was to be donated or thrown away, and the Apollo cabin had a _lot_ of junk in the attic.

"If I recall correctly..." Will said dusting his palms on his things, "I _asked nicely,_ and you, being not-as-gloomy as everyone thinks, agreed. Probably because you like me or something." He smirked. 

Nico rolled his eyes and muttered something about 'annoying' as he opened the box in front of him. It was heavy, so he was expecting weapons or dinnerware, but what greeted him was a collection of paper sleeves, all stacked in a row. 

"Whoa...." He let out a quiet gasp, prompting Will to take a peek. 

"Huh." Will shrugged. "It's just a bunch of old vinyl records, we can probably sell them at..."

"Do you have a phonograph?" Nico interrupted, his eyes glittering. Will was taken aback. Nico rarely got excited these days- at least not in public. 

"You mean a record player? I think we do, somewhere. I'll go check." 

Nico thumbed through the paper-covered disks as Will walked off, looking at the titles. It was mostly names he didn't know, and dates from the 50's and 60's, but there were a couple that were older- almost as old as he was. 

It was a closely-guarded secret that Nico was not of this time. No one except for Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel knew exactly how old Nico was. Well, maybe Reyna did too- he wasn't sure how much of his life had leaked into her head during that fateful trip across the Atlantic, but if she knew, she hadn't said a word. 

Will certainly didn't know.

It was better that way. 

"Found it!" Will shouted from the other side of the room. Nico gathered the small pile of vinyls he had picked out and navigated through the maze of boxes to where Will and the phonograph were.

It was a disgusting avocado green with printed wood paneling, and much smaller than the models Nico vaguely remembered growing up with. It didn't even have a large horn to make the music louder. Nevertheless he carefully slid a disc from its sleeve,set it on the axis, and adjusted the needle to the starting point. Will hit some sort of switch and the music began to play. 

It was an upbeat big-band Jazz number, the kind of music that Nico only vaguely remembered. He had picked the record because the date on the label read "1938". 

He didn't know the song, but the rhythm felt _right_ in a way that the songs they sang around the campfire didn't. It was comforting, and Nico had no idea why. He didn't care. 

Nico and Will went back to organizing. Will bopped and shuffled to the music and hummed along in harmony, and Nico tried to keep himself from smiling. Maybe going through boxes of junk wasn't so bad.

They took a break for lunch when the needle reached the end of the record and filled the room with soft static. They returned to an attic that was only partially clear and groaned at the work still ahead of them.

"I'm going to pick the tunes this time." Will said he stretched, prepping for the work ahead.

"Ugh, no." Nico groaned. "Please don't put on that pop stuff you listen to."

Will grinned. "I don't think there's been a pop vinyl made in the last twenty years, Nico." He chuckled. "Unless you count those bug-eyed bobble head things..."

"What..?"

"Nevermind. I was just going to pick from your pile anyway. Hmmmm... How about... This one? _Opera Classics of the Modern Age_ , from 1935?"

Nico shrugged. "That's fine." 

Will slipped the old disc back into its sleeve and popped on the knew one. 

The first song that played was a German soprano number from The Magic Flute. Nico absentmindedly hummed along as he pulled down more boxes. 

The record played on as the two boys worked, sorting through boxes and crates of arrows, musical instruments, sheet music, medical supplies, and miscellaneous junk. The record ended and Nico flipped it to the B side. More songs played, some French, some Italian, one in Spanish.

Nico was just filing through a stack of old poems when the last song came on. It was softer, with only a few instruments. There was a woman singing in Italian.

There was something so familiar about the song. He remembered that voice, the cadence and pitch of the notes and they filled the air, the lyrics of the song... He had heard this before. 

The world faded away around him, leaving only that song. 

It was dark, and cold, and someone was holding his hand. 

Someone was singing, softly, their voice breaking. Was she crying? 

Why was mother crying? 

The wooden floor rattled beneath them as an explosion sounded, and Nico's ears rang. 

He felt so small, curled up between her and his sister. He could smell his mothers expensive perfume- a floral scent from Capri. A huge _boom_ rocked the earth beneath them and shook the walls, and Nico screamed. Suddenly there was a small, dirty hand covering his mouth. 

"Shhhh!" Bianca whispered. "Faranno sentire voi." _They'll hear you._

His mother carded her gloved fingers through his short hair. "Solo ascoltare me." She said. _Only listen to me_. She sang to him, softly, even her well-trained voice wavering amidst the chaos outside. 

There was a crash. 

Bianca was shaking, holding him tight. His mother kept singing.

Nico could smell the acrid smoke of gunpowder and burning wood mixed with the scent of his mother. 

_Bang bang bang_ the tanks fired outside, men shouting and screaming and being so _loud_ and what would they do if they found him? Would they take him away like the man with the pink triangle? 

He was trembling and he could _feel_ the ground breaking beneath him and the stones of the buildings around them straining to stay in their places as they were brought down by mortar rounds and the bombs that boomed and clashed around them, sending the beautiful ancient bridges into the river and all he could ask his mother was _Are we going to die?_  
\---------

Nico had gone completely still, standing there by the record player. 

"Nico?" 

There was no response. Will gently padded over to his boyfriend. He ducked his head to look Nico in the eye, but he was unresponsive. "Nico can you hear me?"

Nothing. Will snapped his fingers under his nose, no response.  
"Schist..." He muttered, tugging at his hair worriedly. The medic quickly pressed two fingers to Nico's carotid artery, checking for a pulse- it was fast, almost panicked, and he was breathing too quickly.

"Schist schist schist..."

Nico was having a flashback. 

Will scrambled for a chair and placed it behind Nico's knees, carefully guiding his unresponsive boyfriend to sit before he fell over. 

"Nico, Nico can you look at me? Look at me. I'm right here. You're in the Apollo cabin, whatever you're seeing isn't real." Will grabbed Nico's limp trembling hands and squeezed as the record stopped, filling the room with static. 

Will waited with baited breath as the son of Hades opened his mouth to speak, hoping that he was coming out of it. 

"Stiamo andando a morire?" 

Will choked back tears. 

\-----

"Oh mio figlio..." Maria di Angelo wept into her children's hair. "No, no. Vostro padre ci salverà." _Your father will save us,_ she said. And she sang, trying to drown out the sounds of war as the Allies took back Firenze, their beautiful city, from the horrible men that smelled liked death and drove tanks through the streets and took away the nice neighbor man that owned the jewelry store. 

_Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat_  
The sound of gunfire was getting closer, making Nico and Bianca shiver and their mother hold them tighter. 

All three of them were trembling. The diamond bracelet Maria wore clacked together as she shook, her grip on her children as tight as the corsets she wore. Still softly she sang, at this point more garbled notes than words choking out from between her lips. 

The window across the room shattered into a thousand sharp pieces, and Nico screamed. The wall across from it was speckled with bullet holes. Nico couldn't help but cry as his small, terrified family held him close and tried to muffle his wailing.  
\------------

He was screaming, Nico was screaming, curled into a tight ball in his chair and all Will could do was hold him close to his chest and _wait._. Nothing had worked. It had been at least twenty minutes, and Nico's mind was still somewhere else. He had tried opening the curtains, saying Nico's name, counting back from 100, but Nico was too far in the grip of whatever he saw. 

"Please wake up." Will cried softly. "It's not real... It's not real, Nico. Wherever you are, it's just a memory. I'm here, please come back to me." 

Nico's fists clenched in the medic's shirt as he cried blindly, unaware of where he was. Will ran his hands through his hair and curled his fingers around Nico's, gently prying them from his shirt so he could hold them himself. 

His fingers caught on Nico's silver skull ring- the one he always wore, the one he had sported since the Titan war, the one rumors said was worn by Hades himself, the one Nico always turned on his finger when he was anxious...

Will held Nico's palm in one hand and began slowly twisting the ring with the other.

Once, twice, three times around his finger, Will carefully guided the large skull over and under with no response. 

Then... It happened. Nico brought one desperate hand to the other and began twisting the ring for himself. His breathing calmed, ever so slowly, and Will about cried with relief.

"Come on Nico..." Will whispered, placing worried hands on his shoulders. "Come back to me."

Nico blinked, disoriented, and looked up. His glassy black eyes met Will's vibrant blue, and Will knew that he was aware. 

"Will?" Nico gasped, his Italian accent still heavy in his voice, making it sound like 'Weel'. 

"Thank the gods." The medic brought him into a tight hug, burying his face in Nico's black hair.

"I.... I was in Firenze, and... And they were fighting, oh gods Will I was so scared... And they... They had guns..." He rambled fitfully. Will slid his arms to Nico's elbows so he could look at his boyfriend. "They were bombing the city, oh gods Will... It was so _loud_ , and I could feel people dying... And I.. And she... My mother... Mamá was there... She was singing.... I could... Could hear her singing" he gasped, gripping Will's biceps tightly as he tried to pull in air, "I remembered mamá..."

"Nico, you need to _breathe_ ," Will coaxed. "You're going to have a panic attack if you don't calm down. Breathe in."

Nico gasped for air, sweaty hands holding firm to Will as he tried to follow along. 

"What you saw was just a memory. Breathe out. It's over now. Breathe in. It can't hurt you here. Breathe out."

Will continued in that vein, coaching his boyfriend back to a normal breathing rhythm until he was out of danger. Nico was going to be exhausted when the adrenaline rush finally wore off...

"Will.... What happened?" Nico asked. 

"You had a flashback. It's where-"

"I know what a flashback is." Nico interrupted, still shaking in Will's arms. "Hazel used to have them. But I've never..." He gripped the back of Will's shirt, trying to ground himself. 

"Do you know what caused it?" Will asked, running a comforting hand up and down Nico's spine. If he'd isn't stop trembling soon he was going to have to fetch a blanket.

"I.... The music. I heard that song... I think..." He trailed off, pushing Will away to reach for the record player. 

"What is it?" 

Nico stood over the turntable, and gently picked up the record. He took it back to the chair and collapsed into it, still holding the record close. He sniffed, trying to hold back tears. 

"Nico, what is it?" Will asked softly. 

"It's her." Nico sobbed. "It's her, Will. I can't believe it." He turned the vinyl for Will to read, and gently caressed a name.

There on the B side, in faded typeset in the column of guest artists, was a name.

_Maria di Angelo_

\----------------


	2. The Sword in the Shed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the foundations are laid

Will handed Nico a hot cup of tea and sat on the couch bedside him with an exhausted sigh. Nico curled up around the mug and blew softly to dispel the steam before taking a sip. He much preferred coffee but Will advised against caffeine after... Whatever had just happened. 

Nico knew what had happened in his past, before his time at the Lotus Hotel. He knew his mother was an Italian diplomat who could see through the mist.

He knew he was born in 1930- he had done the math. 

He knew that after they had come to America, his mother had been killed by Zeus- he had seen Hades' memory. 

He knew that his memory had been wiped.

He knew all of this, the same way he knew that the sky was blue and the ocean was off-limits to him: it was a fact. 

But he didn't _remember_ any of it... Until just now. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" The blonde beside him asked with concern in his bright blue eyes. He wasn't sure if he wanted to. Emotions rolled in his head like a serpent- excitement, fear, confusion, wariness... He wasn't sure what was going on. Were the gods testing him, or trying to tell him something? Did the gods have anything to do with this in the first place? Had it been like this for Hazel? 

Nico sipped at his tea. 

"It's important to process what happened, Neeks. If it's too difficult right now I understand..."

"It's... Hard to explain, Will." He began. His fingers fidgeted with the handle of the mug, collecting his thoughts into words. He steeled himself, and spoke. "I don't remember anything from before I went to the Lotus Hotel. After my mother died, Hades dunked both of us, Bianca and me, into the River Lethe, then he dropped us in the Lotus."

"The Lotus Hotel..?"

"Yeah." His fingers curled around the cup, holding it close to his chest as if he could drown himself in the hot water if he stared hard enough. 

Everyone at Camp Half-Blood knew what the Lotus Hotel was. Will only nodded in response- he was taking this information surprisingly well. He waited for Nico to continue. 

"I saw my mom." Nico said softly. "They were fighting in the city, and she needed to keep us calm. She was singing that song- the same one on the record. I think that's what..."

"Triggered the flashback?"

"... It's not like that." Nico huffed. "It's probably just a fluke, Will. A memory the Lethe never quite erased." His dark eyes glittered with anger, whether it was directed inward or outward Will couldn't tell, but he knew when to drop it. 

"...alright." The blonde nodded. "That must've been frightening." He leaned back into the couch cushions. 

"Not.... Really."

Will quirked an eyebrow. Nico had certainly seemed scared out of his mind earlier... But then again, he hadn't _been_ in his right mind. "How so?"

"I remember being scared, when I was a kid. I was terrified back then, but it was just a memory."

Will let loose a sigh of relief. He had been tense this whole evening, worried for Nico's state of mind. He had forgotten just how resilient his boyfriend could be. 

"I _remembered_ something, Will." Nico said, draining his cup and setting it on the table. His eyes gleamed with the same resolution Will had seen when Nico was on the battlefield and about to do something rash. 

\--------

Will stayed with Nico until he turned in early for the night. Now, sitting with his siblings in the pavilion for breakfast, Nico was nowhere to be seen. Will pushed his eggs around on his plate distractedly. Nico had missed dinner in favor of going to bed, which was understandable considering yesterday's events, but breakfast too? He had a bad habit of skipping meals already. He also had a habit of keeping things to himself until the last possible second. 

How long had Nico stayed in the Lotus Hotel? A month? A year? How much time had he lost? Nico could very well be eighteen right now. Oh gods, what did that make Will? 

"Yo Will, where's your shadow?" Austin asked through a mouthful of bacon. 

His train of thought derailed, Will twisted his lip. "I think he's sleeping in today. He had a rough day yesterday."

Austin nodded. "Well let him know we're here if he needs anything. Don't you have a councilor meeting after breakfast?" 

"Crap!" Will exclaimed, shoveling the rest of his breakfast into his mouth as he rushed out to the big house. He had completely forgotten about the monthly chore-shuffling meeting. 

He arrived at the big house with minutes to spare and settled himself onto the worn and moth-eaten loveseat next to the ping-pong table. Other councilors were seated in their preferred places already. Usually he would share the tiny couch with his surly boyfriend. Nico had always sat alone, brooding, in a dark corner during councilor meetings. That is until one day Will had pulled him into the cushions with him. Nico had been too flustered to try and fight it, and that had been his spot ever since. It went unused during the warmer months, when Nico spent most of his days in the Underworld. No one dared sit in the seat that the son of Hades had claimed as his own. It was strange that the spot was empty now- Nico was rarely late to official meetings, no matter how much he hated mornings. Will smiled at the memory. 

There was a shuffling coming from the door to the attic, where the private meeting room was. 

"We'll discuss it more later, if needed." Will heard Chiron say. 

The clock struck ten, and the door opened to reveal the centaur, in his chair, and Nico walking beside him. 

Will sat up straighter with a small but elated gasp when he saw his boyfriend, even if said befriend refused to meet his eyes. Nico's cold eyes swept over the room at large as he nonchalantly flopped into his chosen spot on the ratty couch. Will relaxed into the cushions when Nico took his place beside him. If anyone noticed Will's hand shifting to touch Nico's ever so slightly, they wisely kept their mouths shut.

"Good morning, campers." Chiron smiled from his chair. "It's a new month and that means a new chore rotation. As usual, we will be drawing straws for which cabins get which chores, and also as usual, the Hermes cabin will be drawing last." There was a snicker from the room at large as the Stoll brothers groaned. "Additionally, as we have a single-occupant councilor present, and delegating an entire monthly chore to one person is unfair, which cabin would like to have Mr. di Angelo accompany them this month?"

Nico was pointedly _not_ looking at any of his fellow councilors. Even after a year of being at camp, he was still unsure of his standing. He didn't see the hands that raised.

"Unfortunately Mr. Solace, the Apollo cabin accompanied Mr. di Angelo last month." There was a snickering from the corner, but one icy look from Nico put a stop to that. "Ms. McLean, thank you for volunteering. Hades shall accompany Aphrodite this month. Now, to the drawing." 

Nico nearly choked on his own tongue, and Will firmly thumped him between the shoulders. 

The cabins went in order, starting with number four- Demeter. Each councilor stepped forward to pick a Popsicle stick from an old plastic cup. Due to an incident a couple years ago involving misuse of demigod abilities and the Ares cabin getting stable duty for a year straight, the Hermes cabin always drew last. 

"Where were you this morning?" Will asked quietly, his hand still barely touching Nico's. "You weren't at breakfast. Did you eat?"

Nico nodded, his eyes still far away. Cabin seven was called and Will stood to pick his stick, giving Nico a much-needed moment to compose himself. 

"Ugh. Latrines." Will rolled his eyes as he retook his spot next to Nico. The dark-haired teen seemed distant, brooding almost. It was great for his image, but not so great for his well-being. "You ok?" Will asked quietly. 

"I had to speak with Chiron about some... things." Nico replied. "It's nothing to worry about."

Will raised an eyebrow. "About what happened last night?" 

Nico's closed fist was enough of an answer for Will. "It's probably just a fluke."

"Nico..."

Just that moment, Piper walked over to them.

"Hey Nico!" She said brightly. "We've got weapons maintenance. Every day after training and before dinner good for you? I know you don't like mornings." 

Nico shrugged. "That's fine."

"Okay good. I'll see you this evening!" She smiled before heading for the door. Nico took that as his cue to exit as well, but Will caught his wrist as he stood.

"You sure you're alright?" 

Nico brushed Will's fingers from his arm. "I'm fine, really." He met Will's gaze briefly, but it didn't last. "I just need some time to think. I'll see you at dinner." There was just a hint of a smirk, however solemn. It gave Will hope. He nodded as Nico went downstairs. 

\---------

"....Whoa." Nico gasped when Piper unlocked the weapons vault. There were racks of celestial bronze weapons on the walls, barrels of wooden swords and dented armor in various sizes in open-top crates. 

Piper chuckled. "You act like you've never seen the weapons room before, Nico."

"I haven't." He replied. 

She raised a questioning eyebrow. "I've seen you train in the arena." 

"Yeah, but I never use armor." Nico shrugged. "And I've had my own sword since I was thirteen, so..." He trailed off. 

"Yes yes, you're very _special._ " Came the nagging voice of Drew Tanaka as the rest of the Aphrodite cabin walked in with rags, files, and spray bottles of polish and oil. "Look at me I'm Hades' son and I've never had to use a standard sword! Ugh!" She said with an eye roll. 

"Shut it, Drew." Piper warned, shooting the dark-haired girl a menacing multicolored glance. 

"It's fine." Nico said quietly as he took a file and headed toward the wall of swords to smooth out the spurs. 

"Tch." Drew scoffed, muttering. "It's not like he matters." 

Piper wheeled on the girl and took her by the arm, gently but forcefully dragging her outside. 

Nico smiled just a bit at that, but with his head down focusing on filing the sword-edge, no one saw. It was still an odd feeling, having people that would stand up for him. Part of him still firmly believed that he deserved the words Drew had said; that he didn't matter. It's not like he was meant to exist in this time, anyway.

Piper strolled back in with clenched fists. "I'm sorry about that." She said as she sat next to Nico. He passed her a freshly filed sword and she took an oiled rag and began to wipe the blade. 

"It's nothing, really." He murmured. 

"No." She said firmly. "What Drew said was wrong, and she needs to understand that. She's just a bitch."

Nico chuckled. Everyone knew that. Drew had probably only made a scene so that she wouldn't have to get her hands dirty doing chores. Nico had just been the easiest target. 

"Thanks anyway." He replied.

Piper gave him a quick pat on the forearm before returning to oiling the weapons Nico handed her. He tolerated the small touch, even if it wasn't his favorite thing. Piper was... a friend. It was a strange relationship he had with the daughter of Aphrodite. They had met under less-than-ideal circumstances; Piper was the one who freed him from his captivity in the jar. 

They didn't socialize much but Nico knew that Piper would always have his back. 

They spent a good half-hour filing and cleaning the weapons that had been used that day. A couple other Aphrodite kids had popped out the dents in the armor and polished them to a reasonable shine. They sanded the splinters from the wooden swords used by younger demigods and organized the crate. 

"Hey Piper!" One of the younger campers called. "All we have left is the speciality weapons, do you want us to get those, too?" 

"Yeah! We might as well." She shrugged brightly in response. The camper scurried away to unlock a door in the back of the weapon shed. It had once been a closet, it looked like. 

"What are the _specialty weapons?_ " Nico asked as he handed off the last freshly-filed sword to Piper. 

She raised her eyebrow for a moment as if to say _how can you not know this?_ before realization dawned on her face. "They're like your sword- the Stygian Iron one, or Percy's pen. They have some sort of magical power and are usually tied to a specific demigod, or the children of one deity in particular. Sometimes, when demigods don't make it back from a quest, their weapons find their way back here. We take care of them until they find a new owner." 

Nico nodded. He never really thought about what would happen to his Stygian Iron sword if he ever died- he just assumed he would take it with him to the Underworld. He practically lived there for half the year already. Maybe the other campers were right in calling him half-dead. He snorted at the thought. 

"Piper!" Someone called from the back. "Can you come take care of the red one?" 

She handed the sword she was wiping over to Nico. "Can you finish this one? There's a sword of Ares in there that doesn't like anyone but his kids touching it. It seems to like me though."

"Probably because you pulled me out of that jar." Nico relied nonchalantly. When she tilted her head, he explained. "Ares was the first one the giants pulled that trick on. That's why he's also the patron deity of prisoners of war." 

"Well..." She began. "That _would_ make sense. You're so smart Nico, anyone ever tell you that?" 

He scowled and Piper stood up to get the sword. He wasn't _smart. Annabeth_ was smart. Nico was just a weirdo who spent too much time studying mythology and couldn't keep his mouth shut when someone said something wrong. He was creepy, and an outcast, not... _smart._ his thoughts were interrupted by Piper's return.

In her arms was a long object wrapped in red cloth. It looked to be larger than a short sword, but not quite long enough to be a full blade. She sat down next to Nico and unwrapped the cloth. The hilt was a dark steel, red in color, and it was wrapped in red leather. He was beginning to underage why they called it 'the red one.' There was something familiar about this sword, but Nico couldn't quite placed it. Piper slid the cloth from the blade. It was the same red steel.

Without thinking, Nico reached forward to touch it.

That's when the world changed around him.  
\-----

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Kayla said as she speared her broccoli on her fork. Nico hadn't shown up to dinner and Will was positively _moping._

"He said he would be at dinner." He sighed despondently. "I don't want to be overbearing and go looking for him. What if it's nothing? He could be just taking a shower or something." 

Kayla chuckled. "You two are too cute." 

"Don't let Nico hear you say that." Will rolled his eyes. Then, remembering his boyfriend wasn't there, he slumped back into staring down his barbecue. 

"I'm sure Nico..." Kayla began, but she was interrupted when one of the younger Aphrodite kids skidded to a halt next to their table. 

"Um..." They blushed. "I.. Uh... Sorry. Are you Will Solace?" 

Will nodded. 

"Um... I need you to come with me. It's... It's Nico." 

Will rushed out of the dining pavilion straight to the arena.

He arrived, breathless, at the weapons locker to see Piper waiting at the door. She was shivering, and the grass around the shed was a wilted yellow. 

"Oh thank gods you're here Will!" She nearly cried. "We were polishing the weapons, and suddenly he just stopped moving. He wouldn't respond to anything, and he was shaking, and it got so cold in there. I had to use charmspeak..."

Suddenly Will was hugging her. 

"...Huh?" She sputtered. 

"Thank you for calling me Piper." He said, letting just a bit of warmth and light flow into the frantic girl. "But you're panicking. I need you to calm down. You said you used charmspeak? Were you able to snap him out of it?"

"Y-yeah, but..."

"Then I'm sure he'll be fine. Now go get some dinner and calm down. I'll take it from here. Just keep this on the down low for now, alright?" He smiled. 

Piper nodded and Will let go. She wiped at her eyes with a sniffle and took a deep breath. "Of course." 

Will opened the door and went in. Nico was sitting there on the bench looking at a pure red sword. If it wasn't for the anxious twisting of his skull ring, Will would have thought nothing was wrong. 

"Hey." He said as he sat next to his boyfriend. 

Nico took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I talked to Chiron this morning about... all of this. He said if it happened again... that I..." He breathed slowly, calming himself, just as Doctor Solace had taught him. "There's something I need to tell you, Will, but you have to swear to keep it secret. Swear it to me."

"Of course, Nico. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all that. I swear."

He stopped twisting the silver skull on his finger in favor of clenching his hand. Will tentatively reached out to cover the fist with his own; after a moment, Nico shifted to intertwine his fingers with the blond's. 

"Remember when I said I stayed in the Lotus Hotel?" Nico began. 

Will nodded. "It's okay if you're a couple years older, Nico I won't think any..."

"I was born in 1930." 

Will gasped, speechless. Nico's eyes locked with Will's, silently searching for a negative reaction. Beyond surprise, he found none, but he could see the gears turning in Will's head. Better to explain before his thoughts ran away with him. 

"I was born before the Big Three made their pact to not have demigod children. My father was the only one to keep his oath."

"So... Hazel..."

"Was also born before the pact, but that's another story... And another secret. I don't remember anything about my life from before the hotel, Will. I only know the gist of what happened from what others have told me. My mother, sister, and I came to America from Italy during the war- World War II, I hear it's called. Then Zeus killed her and Father erased our memories. I was twelve."

Will stroked his thumb over the back of Nico's hand. 

"Yesterday, when I heard mamá singing, I was back in Florence. They were bombing the city, and we were hiding from the Allies. I thought it was just a fluke, Will. A hallucination. But Chiron... Chiron thinks otherwise. He said if it happened again, that I should tell you. Since you're... Y'know..."

"The closest thing this camp has to a licensed doctor, and also your boyfriend?" Will smirked. 

Nico chuckled softly. It was a good sign. "That sword..." His eyes shifted to the red blade next to him. "It's a sacred sword of Ares. I touched it, and I remembered something. Now that I've had a minute to process it..." He trailed off, gathering his wits. "We were in Austria. Mamá had just finished signing at the opera house- her voice was famous in Europe- and we were waiting on a cab back to the hotel we were staying at. A man came up to us with that sword- he must've been a son of Ares. He had a thick English accent, and he said he was here to kill the spawn of Hades. He said that... That the gods couldn't risk another abomination ravaging the world." Nico averted his eyes, the shame emanating from his thin frame was palpable. 

"What?" Will tilted his head. "What do you think they meant?"

Nico twisted his lip and looked away. "I know what they meant, Will. I didn't, as a kid, but now..." He shuddered. "They meant Adolf and Benito. Those two were my brothers- Hades' children." 

"Hitler and Mussolini?" Will gasped. Nico flinched at his tone. 

"It's... A long story. Hades' children have a history of... It's..."

"It's ok." Will soothed, clenching his hand around Nico's. "You're not like that. Just because Hades is your father... I'm related to Octavian, remember?" 

Nico snorted softly in amusement. 

"You said a man with a sword came for you?" The blond continued. 

"Y-yeah." Nico blinked. "He wanted to kill me and my sister. Mamá ran with us. She could see through the mist, and she led him right through a nest of hellhounds. They left us alone, but they tore that man to shreds. I think Hades had something to do with it. I... I don't remember what happened next. I heard Piper, and..."

"She used charmspeak to bring you back from the flashback."

Nico clenched his fist, squeezing the life out of Will's fingers. 

"Nico..?"

"Why would she..? She had no right..." He muttered. "I want to _remember,_ Will. I want to know, I can't remember if people keep trying to pull me back!"

"Nico..." Will said softly. "You were shaking. The temperature in the room dropped. The grass outside this shed is wilting. Piper was scared to death." 

Nico looked up, his eyes wide and a bit confused. 

"...You didn't realize, did you?" 

"Not at all." Nico whispered. "I... Will, I can't..." He said desperately. "...I need to think." 

"Alright." Will stood and helped his boyfriend to his feet. "We'll talk about it later. But for now, dinner?"

"That sounds great." Nico smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drew is a bit of a bitch in this, I hope she redeems herself. We'll see. 
> 
> As always, please let me know of any errors, and tell me what you thought. I'm also open to suggestions as to what object or situation will cause the next flashback. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	3. Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to CG and VW, my beta readers.

The next few days passed without incident. 

Will considered it a blessing, but Nico...

Nico was getting frustrated. Every day after arena practice he would report to the weapons vault with the Aphrodite cabin to polish and clean the swords, and every day he would seek out that red sword. He touched it, held it, he even went so far as to try to wield it -which ended in a lacerated palm and three stitches- but to no avail.

The memory never returned. 

Will hadn't been very happy about the gash and had asked that Nico stop meddling with the sword that was only for sons of Aries, and apparently Piper. So Nico had turned to other avenues, trying new things at camp in an attempt to spark a memory. Will was pleasantly surprised and supportive at first, until he discovered Nico's motivation. 

"I'm pleased that you're trying your hand at archery, Neeks, but I know what you're up to. It's not healthy." Will said as he stalked up behind his boyfriend. Nico loosed the arrow that had been drawn tight against his cheek. It flew towards the target, but missed.

"I'm just trying to _remember,_ Will. There's nothing _unhealthy_ about it." He pulled another arrow from his quiver and after a bit of fumbling, managed to notch it. Again, he missed. 

"Not being able to control what you're doing is unhealthy," Will retorted, picking up a bow himself. "Not being aware of your surroundings is unhealthy," He notched an arrow and pulled it back. "Not knowing when you'll lose control is unhealthy," The arrow sunk deep into the target, only a few centimeters from a bullseye.

"I'm glad you're trying new things Nico, really I am, but please don't do it for the wrong reasons. You haven't had an incident in three whole days- that's _good._ I know you want to remember your past, but there have to be other ways than purposefully trying to induce a flashback, okay?" 

Nico stared into his eyes, the deep black gaze searching for any crevice in Will's argument that he could exploit. But the blond held firm and stared right back. Finally, Nico looked away.

"Fine." He huffed. He readied another arrow and shot. It hit the mark.  
\-------

The drachma glittered as Will tossed it into the shimmering light. 

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Hazel Levesque." It just a thought, but if Hazel had information that could help her brother, Will was going to find out. The rainbow glistened, and fizzled into nothing. The drachma pinged on the table.

Communications between the camps were still down, then. But it was worth a shot. Will grabbed his back-up plan: Nico's secret cell phone, the one he used to receive messages from his father and Thanatos. 

He found Hazel's number, listed under "HL", and hit the button to FaceTime. 

"Hello?" Hazel said, her golden eyes peering into the screen. "Oh! Hello, um, Will, was it? Why are you on Nico's phone?" 

Will smiled with a nod. "Yes, that's me. Will Solace, head medic of Camp Half-Blood, at your service. I used Nico's phone because this is... kind of important." 

Hazel nodded. "It's...nice to meet you, officially, I suppose." She began, "You're Nico's friend, yes?"

Will grimaced just a bit. He wondered wether Nico had told his sister about their relationship, or if Hazel was just using cautious language because of the way she was raised. 

"You could say that." He replied. "I'll get to the point. We haven't talked much, you and I, but I have something important to ask you, if you have the time. I assure you that everything you say will be kept in confidence, under..."

"Is this about Nico?" Hazel interrupted, worry coloring her gaze. 

Will sputtered. "I... I can't confirm or deny that without permissions..."

Hazel raised a knowing eyebrow and pursed her lips. He deflated. "Nico is fine, mostly. I can't tell you anything without his permission, but I'm trying to help him, yes."

Hazel nodded. "What do you need to know?" 

"First of all, I have to tell you that I know about your situation-yours and Nico's. I know when you were born." Hazel's eyes blew wide, and Will clarified, "I'm sworn to secrecy, just like Chiron, but I needed to know for medical reasons. I just... had to get that out there. But... Nico told me you used to have flashbacks?"

"I did." Hazel replied warily, "Is Nico..?"

"Could you tell me about your experiences?" Will cut her off professionally. He couldn't answer the question she wanted to ask, so it was better to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand, even if it was bit rude.

"Well..." Hazel began, "...after Nico brought me out of Hades, I didn't know who I was. I was a _tabula rasa._ I started remembering who I was, slowly. I would dream of my past life at first, but then I started remembering when I was awake."

Will made a mental note to ask Nico if he had been having similar dreams. 

"Were your memories triggered by any external stimuli?"

"No, they just... _happened._ " She tapped at her chin, "Nothing ever brought them on." 

Will grimaced. "How did you react, physically?"

"I didn't." Hazel shrugged, "From what Frank and Leo told me I just sort of... sat there, catatonic. My mind was elsewhere. Is this helping any?" She rubbed at her arm, obviously uncomfortable with the topic. 

"It's helping a lot, really." Will soothed, "I just have one more question: do you still have flashbacks?"

"No," Hazel shook her head, "after a while they just... stopped. I think once I regained all the memories I had lost."

"Do you feel you completely recall your former life?" Will asked with restrained excitement. 

"No one can remember everything, Doctor Solace," she chuckled, "but yes, I feel like I recall everything that I would have been able to, had I not..."

"Died?"

"... yeah." Hazel looked away.  
"Tell me," she said, "is Nico going to be okay? Just... tell me that much."

Will ran a hand through his hair with an exasperated sigh. "I'm doing everything I can for your brother, Hazel. I would do anything for him. Nico is... he's a stubborn git is what he is, but I'm trying. He'll be alright if I have anything to do with it. Beyond that... you'll have to ask him for details yourself." 

"Thank you, Will." She smiled. Will raised an eyebrow as if to say, _what for?_ Hazel chucked. "I can tell you...care for my brother very much. Thank you for that. He needs someone like you." She waved her hand across the screen, cutting the call with a smile. Will was left blushing on his bunk. 

\------

"Hey!" Will beamed from across the bridge as he spotted Nico walking to the dining pavilion for dinner. Nico raised a hand in a small wave in reply. 

"How was your day?" He asked when the surly teen caught up to him.

"Fine I guess." Nico shrugged. 

"I hear you finally joined in at the rock climbing wall?" Will nudged Nico teasingly with his elbow.

"Yeah." He brushed Will off, "I figured it was the least likely activity for me to make a fool of myself." 

Will arched an eyebrow, begging him to elaborate. 

"Hades kid." Nico replied simply. When Will still seemed confused, he added "Control over rocks and minerals?" 

The light dawned in Will's eyes and his lips made an 'O' as he nodded dramatically. "That's right..." He murmured, remembering when Nico had first arrived at camp, or rather, when he first fled from camp. He had summoned a wall of jagged obsidian to fend off... something, Will couldn't remember. "I bet you surprised everyone." He beamed.

Nico flushed, turning his face away. Will knew his boyfriend had mixed feelings about showing off. Rather, Nico had mixed feelings about being noticed for _any_ reason. The Prince of Hades was perfectly comfortable living in the shadows, unseen. He still had reservations about public displays of affection, which is why the most Will ever did where people could see was a light pat on his arm or shoulder or a chaste touch of the hand. 

"So..." Will began, his tone apprehensive. 

"Nothing." Nico replied, knowing what Will was going to ask. "Not for three days. I'm _fine,_ Will. This is probably just some trick the gods are playing on me. It'll all blow over once it's finished, just like it did for Hazel." He turned his cold black eyes on Will with resolution. 

"About that..." He began, but he was interrupted by the horn calling for dinner. Nico gave him a sly glance and headed up to the open-air pavilion where the campers took their meals. 

They gathered what they wanted from the buffet and scraped a portion into the central fire as an offering to their fathers. Nico tossed a whole kebab of shrimp into the flames, to Will's confusion. Nico made no comment. 

They sat at the Apollo table and began making light conversation with Kayla and Austin. They exchanged pleasantries and the campers dug into their meal. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Will spotted the Stoll brothers lurking around a corner. He rolled his eyes and rested his forehead on his palm, saying a quick prayer to the gods that whomever they were pranking didn't require medical attention afterward. Nico smirked at his reaction and lifted a forkful of chicken to his mouth.

Behind them, a plate shattered on the stone floor. 

Nico dropped his fork.

His eyes went wide, unseeing. He sat completely still with his hands clenched over his ears.

"Schist." Will cursed. "Not here..." 

He grabbed Nico by the wrist, ignoring the concerned looks from his cabin-mates, and guided his unaware boyfriend out of the dining pavilion and away from the other campers as quickly as he could.

Adrenaline flooded his system, thoughts of what the campers would say if they saw Nico having a breakdown, and how that would affect Nico's already fragile self-esteem raced through his mind. 

Nico stumbled behind him, and he nearly took Will to the ground with him. It was as if his legs had simply stopped working as he crumpled to the dirt. 

Damnit, there was no way he could get Nico to his cabin now. Will whirled around, searching for a place that would be safe and deserted. His eyes fell upon the big house, down the hill and over the nearby bridge. It would have to do. He scooped Nico's trembling, terrified form into his strong arms in a motion that he was unfortunately accustomed to.  
\--------

_CRASH_

Another plate sailed into the kitchen wall, shattering into a hundred pieces.

"They're trying to _murder_ my children!" His mother was screaming. Nico had never heard her voice so harsh. Usually she was so careful with it... not now. "This is all because of you!" She shrieked, and another dish met its end against the wallpaper.

"Maria..." A voice replied. It was deep, and cool, and it was terrifying, "I love my children, but there is only so much I can do..."

"Bull shit!" She barked. "I know what you are, I know what you can do!"

The temperature in the house dropped, the cold stone floors glittered under a thin sheen of ice. Huddled in the pantry, Nico shivered, trying to block out the sound of his mother and... that man... arguing. 

"You would do well to not forget who I am, Maria." The dark voice replied. He recognized that voice. "You know very well why my brothers are hunting Bianca and Nico. You know what their... other siblings have done."

"My children are not insane!" His mother fumed. He could hear broken china crunch and clank beneath her patent leather heels. 

"One day, they may be. Most of my children are." The voice seemed sad. "My brothers know this, and..."

The world shifted. The cold closet became warm, strong arms, and the deep rolling voice became soft and light. 

There were hands, solid but quaking ever so slightly, under his knees and around his shoulders. He could hear a heartbeat, strong but quick, pulsing on his ears. His forehead was nestled comfortably on something soft, and breathing- someone's neck. Heavy, purposeful breaths whispered in his ear. The chest he laid against was warm, and he was _sore..._ he felt like he had been in a battle. His muscled were locked up tight, and it _hurt_. He groaned softly. The hands gripped tighter, holding him closer to the warm chest. It was... _nice..._

"Please Nico. You're gonna be okay, please wake up for me..." It said. Was that... Will? Was Will carrying him? 

He tried to open his eyes, to wake up for Will, but if hurt too badly and his vision was blurry. 

It was dark... was he outside? Or was he in the kitchen pantry? 

Where..? 

The darkness flooded his mind as he was swept under. He was five years old in a dark kitchen pantry. His mother and the dark man were shouting, and he was afraid. 

Nico stiffled a sob in his hiding place, clasping his hands over his mouth. _Am I... bad?_ He asked himself, quivering in the dark as he tried to make himself smaller in the tiny closet. _Is that why the bad men keep trying to hurt us? Because of me?_

"But they aren't _now!_ " Maria screeched, and Nico covered his ears once more. "You, of _all_ people, the judge of souls, should know better! You don't punish someone for what they _might_ do, Hades!" 

"I'm not the one trying to kill them, Maria!" Hades bellowed, and the ground shook. How was his mother not terrified of this man? How could she scream at him? "I'm the one trying to save them! Persephone has..."

"No!" Maria interrupted. " _I_ am their mother, and _I_ will be the one to raise them!" 

Shadows rippled on the floor, seeping out from below his father's cloak. Nico cried and buried his face in his tear-soaked sleeve. 

"We have _discussed_ this, Maria." He growled. 

"If you think that I'm going to raise my children in that hellhole you call... Fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five..." 

That wasn't his mothers voice, that was... that was Will's voice...

The world went bright, and Nico's vision shifted. He blinked away the light and tried to focus on his surroundings, but everything swam in front of him. He screwed his eyes shut and grasped at his skull ring, furiously twisting the bit of silver around his finger. 

"Fifty-one, fifty, forty-nine..." Will continued, his voice cracking. 

"F..fo...fourty-eight..." Nico croaked out, realizing what Will was doing. It had brought him out of a nightmare a couple times. 

Will exhaled his long-held breath in relief. "Nico are you with me?" He asked desperately. Nico nodded and tried opening his eyes once more, blinking away... tears? Had he been crying? He looked up and saw Will clearly.

Will had been crying. His eyes were puffy and red and he sniffed. "You scared me..." He whispered as he drew Nico into a crushing hug. Nico was too numb to protest as Will buried his snotty face in the crook of his neck. 

Nico awkwardly pat Will on the shoulder, still in shock. He looked at his feet. The floorboard beneath him had begun to separate, deep cracks in the wood spread from where he sat. He had lost control again...

"Where are we?" He asked quietly, his voice rough. 

Will sniffed. "We're in the big house. You started going under during dinner..." Nico stiffened in panic. "I got you out." Will quickly soothed, and Nico exhaled in relief. "I don't think anyone noticed except for our table, but, halfway here you collapsed. I had to carry you." 

Nico hung his head in exhaustion. It wouldn't be the first time Will had carried him, what with how his powers worked. Still, it brought a flush of shame to his cheeks. 

"I... I think I remember that..." Nico whispered, his voice hoarse. It was like he had been screaming... his eyebrows furrowed. 

"You were talking." Will said softly, answering Nico's unsaid question. "More like crying, actually, but... you asked if you were... a bad person. Do you want too..?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied firmly. His hands shook, but his voice did not. "Not now." 

Will grit his teeth in frustration, but acquiesced with a nod. He stood and held out a hand to his boyfriend. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up." 

Nico grasped his hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. He wobbled, unsteady, but Will was there to catch him. He always was. 

They made their way to the soft purple couch under the stuffed leopard head. Will left Nico to his thoughts and his fiddling while he fumbled around in the small kitchen.

"I've got a pot of tea on." Will sighed as he slumped next to Nico on the couch. The son of Hades said nothing, continuing to twist his ring purposefully. 

"Nico," he began, "I think..."

"It's just a phase, Will." Nico interrupted. "It'll pass, just like Hazel."

Will took a steadying breath. "I spoke to Hazel." He began, "I used your phone, just for a quick call. I asked her about her blackouts, Nico. This... this isn't the same thing."

Nico clenched his fists. "It _has_ to be! I can't... I can't be going crazy, Will. I _can't._ " he clasped the sides of his skull and hung his head between his knees, "If I... if I'm like them... if I'm a _monster_..."

"No, Nico no..." Will lurched forward to kneel between his distraught boyfriend's legs. "Nico look at me. You are _not_ crazy and you are _not_ like your... siblings. You've lost your memory, and now it's coming back. We don't know how or why, but that's what we know. It doesn't make you crazy, Nico... you're not insane... you're not a monster." 

"But look what I've _done_ , Will!" Nico gestured with a sweeping motion to the hallway where he and Will had sat just minutes before, where the floorboards were cracked and gaping. 

The whistling of the tea kettle interrupted them. Will squeezed Nico's knee and he stood. 

He returned moments later with two cups. He took a sip of his own before handing the other to Nico. 

"It's a special blend, rose and mint." He explained. "It should help you calm down a bit."

Nico sat with the cup in his hands, worrying the rim of it with his fingers and soaking up the warmth it provided. He brought the steaming drink to his face and took a deep whiff.

Then Nico went slack, and the cup shattered to the floor, and Will nearly sobbed in worry and frustration.

It was happening again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot should start to pick up in the next chapter. I hope you're all enjoying pasting together the bits and pieces of Nico's past. 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think, and I'm taking suggestions for things that could trigger a flashback. :)


	4. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of emotion in this one.

"Nico? Nico can you hear me?" Will ran his hands over his boyfriend's face and arms, but Nico was unresponsive. He stared at nothing, blinking languidly. 

Will cursed. "Chiron!" He called desperately. A quick clopping of hooves and the centaur was kneeling at his side.  
"He's having another episode. I... I think I caused it," Will sniffed, "it's the second one this evening, I... I don't know what to do." He gasped though his voice was breaking. Nico's eyes fluttered, and he pitched forward, lifeless. 

"No no nonono..!" Will reached out to catch him around the shoulders, and checked his pulse. He sighed in relief as he realized that Nico was breathing deeply- he was only asleep. 

"I can't keep doing this, Chiron." Will whispered as he laid Nico on the couch and pulled a spare blanket over him. "I have to help him, but I can't... I don't know what's wrong..."

"William," Chiron frowned, "you ask too much of yourself. You are only fifteen. I know you want to help..."

"It's the only thing I _can_ do!" Will interjected,  
"I can't fight, I can't see the future, healing is my only talent! If I can't even help the one person..." He burst into tears. 

Chiron laid a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Some things cannot be healed, William, but that doesn't mean you cannot _help_." Will looked up through his tears to see the old centaur smile sadly. "Be there for him, as you have been. Your concern is warranted, and your actions have been immensely helpful. If not for you, Nico would still be in the dining pavilion right now. I'm sure he appreciates your efforts to maintain his privacy, even when he cannot." 

Will nodded, swallowing his tears. "Do you... do you know what's wrong with him? Do you know how to fix it?"

Chiron shook his head. "That, you'll have to figure out for yourselves."  
\--------

The smell was overwhelmingly pleasant, an odd but aromatic mix of fragrant rose and sweet mint. Nico buried his face in the bouquet that was almost as big as he was. Mamá let him hold it while she fixed her makeup. He could feel Bianca's warm arms around his waist as he sat in her lap. The dressing room of the opera house was small, but lavish and bright. Electric bulbs lined the mirrors and a chandelier hung overhead; and yet, the man that visited them still seemed to be cast in shadow. 

Mamá had been so excited when the door had opened and the tall, dark man had walked in with a bouquet and a box. She had leapt up to kiss him as he held her tight, messing up her fresh lipstick. Bianca had giggled and dragged Nico closer. 

"Who is that?" He whispered to his sister as he pulled his arm away. The man was so tall, and Nico was only four. 

"That's our father!" Bianca replied, grinning. 

Nico looked up, and the man- his father- smiled down at him. It was a small smile, warm and a bit sad. The man knelt, and Nico could see that his eyes were as black as jet- just like his. 

"Hello my son." His voice reminded Nico of something deep, like an echo in a cave. His father reached out a hand, and Nico took it, unsure of what to do. Then his father gently lifted him up and settled him on his hip. The fabric of his suit was soft and smooth, and it swirled in front of Nico's eyes like something alive. He buried his face in the cloth to keep from getting dizzy. 

"Hades, look..." His mother said softly. Nico felt a rumble in the form beneath him, a quiet chuckle in a deep chest. 

"The flowers are from Persephone." His father- Hades- said, gently stroking Nico's hair. "She sends her regards. She wishes she could be here to hear your lovely voice, but it being spring..."

"I understand." Mamá said, though she seemed sad. Who was Persephone? Nico wondered. The flowers she sent were so pretty, and they smelled so nice. He wanted to lay in a bed of those flowers and go to sleep. 

The body beneath him shifted, and Nico raised his head to look. Hades pulled a black velvet box out of his suit jacket and offered it to Mamá.

"This one is from me." He smiled softly.

Mamá opened the box, and pulled out a very shiny necklace. Bianca gasped and ooh'ed over it, helping their mother to clasp it around her neck.

"It's lovely." She said in her silky voice as she stood to kiss Hades once again, pressing Nico between them as he giggled. 

The arms holding him were cold, and being in the cellar dressing room of the opera house didn't help. Spring in Austria wasn't exactly warm. He shivered. Hades opened the lapel of his swirling, fascinating cloak and shifted Nico under the silk. At least, it felt like silk. 

It was warm like dark earth that had been sitting in the sun. He could hear the slow thump, thump, of something in his father's chest. It didn't sound like Mamá's, but it sounded... right, somehow. 

His father smelled of rich soil, and deep caves, and graveyards. Nico closed his eyes and inhaled the scent, committing it to memory and hoping it would last forever. 

He heard Mamá shoo them away, and felt the heavy footsteps as Hades, with his sister in hand, climbed the stairs to a private box overlooking the stage. 

The next thing he knew, he was sitting in his father's lap, snuggled between his comfortably cool chest and Bianca, falling asleep to the sound of his mother's voice echoing through the theatre. 

Slowly, he opened his eyes. 

He was laying on a couch in the living room of the big house, and the sun was creeping lazily up the walls, filtered through the purple curtains. 

Wearily, he sat up and stretched the soreness out of his neck and shoulders. He heard someone sniffle, and froze. 

There, on the nearest armchair, Will Solace was curled into a tight ball, fast asleep. Nico relaxed. It would be almost cute except for the red puffiness lining the blonde's eyes. His freckled face was twisted in worry, even in his sleep.

A quiet squeaking of wheels brought his attention to Chiron, rolling over the hardwood in his chair. He pressed a mug of something warm into Nico's hands and took a sip of his own cup. 

"I haven't seen him this strung out since the first war." The centaur commented quietly, gazing at Will. Nico's head whipped to face him, a mix of emotions written on his face. "He truly cares for you, but all of this is taking its toll on him as well." Nico nodded, understanding the hidden meaning behind Chiron's words: _don't be reckless, your actions affect more than just you._ If this was the price of him actively going out and trying to cause a flashback, it wasn't worth it. A glimpse into his past wasn't worth harming his future. 

"Though I must say," Chiron interrupted his thoughts, "that with your current situation, I would not advise leaving the safety of camp alone." 

Nico grit his teeth, but nodded in agreement. It was frustrating. He was an extremely independent person and hated to rely on others for anything, but he was also pragmatic. It was the same advice he had given to Hazel when she embarked on her quest while still having blackouts. He would be a hypocrite to ignore it himself. 

"We have an understanding then," the centaur bowed his head briefly. "I'll leave you to your morning, then," he said as he wheeled himself out into the daylight. 

He took a whiff of what was in the mug. It was the same rose and mint tea that Will had served him earlier, and he inhaled the scent like a lost friend. The memory was clear in his head. 

Nico sipped at his drink. 

Will had mentioned talking to Hazel, asking her about her blackouts. 

Nico had to admit, what he was going through wasn't the same. The evidence was too clear to deny it. He was probably just crazy, slipping into madness like all his brothers before him. Soon he would lose control completely and...

No. He was different. He wasn't like his brothers. Was he? 

Will murmured and shifted in the armchair, slowly uncurling himself. He stretched out like a cat in a sunbeam as Nico watched him fondly. 

"Morning." Nico said with a bit of gruffness. 

"Mornin'..." Will yawned, still half-asleep. Then realization dawned on him and he was wide-awake, stumbling out of the chair and over to his boyfriend. 

"Oh my gods, Nico, are you okay? When did you wake up? Did I fall asleep? What time is it?"

Nico placed his hand on the blonde's cheek. "I'm _fine,_ Will." He smiled softly. "It's morning, I just woke up. Really, I'm okay."

Will relaxed visibly. "You scared me, Nico. Two flashbacks in one day..."

"It was... nice." Nico mused. Will tilted his head in confusion. "The tea, it smelled just like a bouquet that Persephone once sent to my mom. Father came to one of Mamá's concerts and gave it to her in the dressing room. It was the first time I met him... I remember falling asleep in his lap in the audience." 

He gazed into blue eyes that held a wealth of emotion: concern, confusion, relief, and... admiration? 

"Will?" He inquired.

Will broke into a grin. "I'm glad," he said, relieved. "I'm glad it was a happy memory, Nico. You deserve to be happy."

Nico scoffed light-heartedly. "Yeah, I'm out-of-my-mind crazy but at least sometimes I hallucinate rainbows and butterflies." He rolled his eyes.

Suddenly there was a firm hand on his shoulder and another grasping his jaw, forcing him to meet Will's striking gaze.

"Nico," he said firmly, "you are _not_ crazy. Yes, you're having flashbacks. But you know who else has flashbacks? Nearly everyone in this camp. Almost all of us have been through _war,_ Nico. And you? You've been through _three._ Having flashbacks is nothing to be ashamed of. Is it scary? Yes. Is it embarrassing? Sometimes. Does it mean you're crazy? Absolutely not." 

Nico drew a shuddering breath, attempting to process everything. All of Hades' children were... off in some way. There was no way he was the sole exception; his fatal flaw was grudges, not hubris. 

Will could see the doubt in his boyfriend's eyes. "I tell you what, if you're still unsure, you could ask Pollux."

"Mr. D's son?" 

Will nodded. "Yeah, he's got a knack for sensing madness in people. Of all the talents of Dionysus..."

"Look who's talking." Nico smirked. 

Will playful smacked his arm. "Yeah yeah, only kid in the Apollo cabin with healing powers, haha," He grinned.

"I might just do that." Nico said heavily. 

Was it possible that he wasn't crazy? That Hades himself had been wrong about him? He wasn't sure where that thought came from, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Nico was sure that his father thought he would go mad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, I outline every chapter before I write it, and then the characters go off and do their own things without my permission. Before I know it I'm at a stopping point and I haven't written half of what was intended. As such, this is the fourth chapter in what was supposed to be a five-chapter piece, but it's looking more like eight at the moment. Please stick around as there's much more to come ;)


	5. Westward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long wait, here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy.

The weather was balmy and mild despite it being November. It was one of the perks of the magical barrier surrounding camp. Of course, the barrier wasn't perfect. Nine demigods had died the last time the barrier had been breached.

That's where Nico sat, atop Zeus' Fist in a clearing deep in the woods. After that fateful day, few dared to visit this part of the forest. They were too frightened of the spirits that lingered here, and the wild things that had come to reclaim it. 

The ghosts did not bother Nico. He was their king. He felt at home around the spirits of the dead, they were comforting to him, something familiar. The creatures steered clear of the Son of Hades, but still...

If he was going to be honest with himself, Nico was frightened.

It was nothing new- he had been scared out of his mind many times during his life, but usually it was something he could fight- monsters, spirits, even his own emotions could be subdued and locked away. 

But his own mind turning against him? It was terrifying. 

He couldn't fight that. 

Unless... 

Will was convinced that he wasn't actually insane. It was a stupid theory, given the circumstances. _All_ of Hades' children had something... wrong with them. Even Hazel had started to show little quirks- little things that had to be done before she left the house. Nico knew his own meticulously-organized collection of happy meal toys wasn't exactly normal either. There was no arguing that he wasn't exactly sane.

But maybe, just maybe, Will was right about _this._ Maybe these flashbacks were unrelated, maybe the gods were just messing with him, maybe...

He _had_ been plunged into the Lethe when he was ten, but so had Hazel. 

Hazel had episodes, too. She blacked out completely and went comatose, though. Nico, not so much. 

What was the difference? Why did Hazel's memories return so calmly when she regained her body? 

A breeze rustled through the quiet trees and toyed with Nico's hair. 

Her body...

That was it. Hazel had been plunged into the Lethe after her death. Only her souls had touched its magic waters. Nico had still been alive, he had still possessed his body.

Was it possible? 

Nico jumped down from the mound of boulders named for the deity he despised. 

There was only one way to find out...

\------

The infirmary doors burst open with a bang as Nico waltzed in and headed straight for Will Solace's desk. He carried his new leather jacket and a bright blue and yellow knapsack with a zigzag pattern that was very contrary to his usual aesthetic. 

"Wha...?" Will trailed off in shock and awe as Nico plopped the knapsack on his desk. That was _his_ bag. "Why do you...?"

"I packed it for you." Nico replied cooly. "I don't know what else you'll need though, so you might want to double-check. Meet me at Thalia's tree in an hour."

Nico turned to leave, but Will stood and grasped his wrist. "Nico what's going on? What do I need to pack for? Where are we going?"

His boyfriend turned slowly, a smirk firmly set on his face. He locked eyes with Will and quirked his eyebrows. 

Will felt the blood rushing to his face with that look, and quickly retracted his hand from Nico's wrist. 

"The underworld." Nico said. With that, he turned his heel and glided out of the infirmary, smooth as night.

Will plopped heavily back into his seat, bewildered. He didn't realize Nico could be so... _dramatic_.... he felt a blush rising to his freckled face as his heart beat wildly. Damn...

... that was _hot_...

\------

Will finished his shift in a distracted daze, wondering why Nico was suddenly so adamant on taking him to the underworld. 

He checked the bag Nico had packed for him. There was a change of clothes and a basic first-aid kit, but mainly it was packed with granola bars, fruit snacks, bananas, bottles of water and sweet iced tea- one of Will's favourites, and jerky. 

Will understood the need for so many snacks- nothing in the underworld was edible to mortals unless you wanted to be trapped there. But why was there so much? What he was wondering about, in particular, was the heavy roll of silver drachmas in the side pocket. There were at least 10. In today's currency, he was carrying over $1500 worth of antique coins. 

He packed in an extra baggie of ambrosia, and a horn of unicorn draught, just in case Nico needed it. It was the only thing that worked on the son of Hades anymore. 

To think that a demigod had been injured and overworked so often between age 10 and 15 that he would become immune to ambrosia was... a startling reality of Will's life. Nico was a special case in more ways than one. 

The walk from the Big House to Thalia's tree was a short one, but Will's eagerness made it even shorter. He found Nico sitting at the base of the tree, gently petting Peleus' scaly head. 

"Hey!" Will grinned as he approached. Nico stood and brushed the pine needles from his knees. "So what's this all about? Why are we heading to the underworld?" He asked.

Nico picked up his leather jacket and swung it over one shoulder. "I thought about what you said- about me not being crazy." He began, not meeting Will's eyes as he continued to stroke the coiled dragon. "I still don't believe it entirely, but... you might be right about... _this._ About the flashbacks. They could be unrelated. But we haven't been able to contact Olympus since Gaea was defeated, and I need an answer. So we're going to ask the one Olympian that's not on Olympus." 

"Your father." Will answered with certainty. Nico nodded. Then his face twisted into what others would call a sneer, but Will knew it was a grin. "What?" He teased.

"I'm taking you home to meet my parents, Will. It's kind of funny." 

Will snickered, holding his fist to his lips to try and keep in the laughter.

Nico's brows furrowed. "Yeah, it's not _that_ funny..."

Will leaned against the tree to keep himself from doubling over. "No, it's just..." he giggled, "...I had this mental image of the both of us in ridiculous tuxedos like I was taking you to the prom and I had to promise Lord Hades to have you back by eleven..." 

Nico rolled his eyes to hide his blush. 

"... oh gods what would an underworld prom even be like? Would I have to make awkward small talk with Anubis' girlfriend while he got her pomegranate punch?" Will continued, tears leaking from his eyes he was laughing so hard.

"Sadie is pretty cool, actually." Nico replied matter-of-factly.

"Who?" Will raised an eyebrow.

"Anubis'... " Nico began to explain, "..you know what? Never mind. We better get going." 

He shrugged the rest of the way into his jacket and held out his hand. Will reached forward to take it, but hesitated, pulling his fingers back. 

"Wait, have you tried shadow-traveling since... you know. Are you sure you won't..."

"I'm sure." Nico nodded. "I traveled Cecil to the tree for his patrols, just to be safe." 

That was... an excellent idea. Inwardly, Will beamed with pride at his boyfriend's forethought. He knew Nico was highly intelligent, but he sometimes forgot just how practical and pragmatic he could be despite his occasionally obsessive tendencies. 

Will grabbed Nico's hand firmly, and Nico pulled them into the darkness. 

Shadow-travel never ceased to simultaneously amaze and terrify Will.

One second they were standing on solid ground, the next they were falling backwards as if on an overbalanced chair. It was freezing cold, and completely dark. Things whispered to him from the shadows as he floated, both weightless and endlessly falling. He held on to Nico's hand for dear life with his eyes squeezed shut until suddenly, the metaphorical chair regained its balance and they were pulled forward into reality.

Will stumbled, regaining his balance as Nico put a firm, steadying hand on his hip. He blinked open his eyes and let them adjust to the darkness. It was _cold,_ and Will shivered. The floor was solid beneath them, and they were surrounded by four, small obsidian walls with columns. 

Will turned and saw a larger-than-life statue of a bearded man with a three-headed dog and a strange staff- it looked like Poseidon's trident without the center prong.

Will was confused. Why was there a statue of Hades in the underworld? He asked Nico.

Nico snorted, "Because we're not in the underworld, you dork," he said as he set down his and Will's packs at the foot of the statue to grab a jacket for Will. There was a pile of blankets there, covered in dust, like someone had been camping at the feet of Hades long ago. "We're at the shrine of Pluto. This is the only place I know of around here that has consistent shadows 24/7." 

"Around here?" Will asked, zipping up his coat, "Where is _here?_ "

Nico shrugged. "Chiron would kill me if we didn't have the proper _three_ demigods for a quest. So we're picking up our third." He walked forward and opened a door that, in the darkness, Will hadn't noticed. 

"Oh." 

Will gaped like a beached fish at his surroundings. There was a river, and a large open space, and hundred of beautiful sparkling columned buildings with porticos and snow-dusted tiled roofs. It was like a whole city had been built in the ancient style, and it left Will dumbfounded.

"Nico, where exactly... _are_ we?" He asked.

"I forget you've never been." Nico replied with a gentle squeeze to the hand he was still holding. "Welcome to New Rome." 

\-------

As much as Will wanted to explore the city- and it _was_ a city, unlike the camp he had grown accustomed to, he knew that he and Nico were here for a reason. 

That's why Will was so surprised when, after checking in with the guards and proving their lack of weapons- what was it with the Romans and not allowing weapons?- Nico took him for a stroll around the city.

"I thought you would want to pick up Hazel and go as soon as possible..." Will mentioned around a bite of brownie. It was one of the best brownies he had ever eaten, he wasn't ungrateful, but he was itching to get on with their quest. 

Nico merely shrugged, swallowing his own mouthful. "Hazel has to finish her duties first. New Rome isn't like Camp Half-Blood, everyone has daily chores and duties in service to the legion. It's more..."

"Militaristic?" Will offered. 

Nico nodded with certainty. "Anyway she should be finishing her shift any minute now." He sank his teeth into the rest of his brownie and sat back in the chair with ease. 

His demeanor was different here- more powerful, more feared. It wasn't the same as when he was at camp. There, people feared Nico for what he could do, what he was capable of, but few respected him as a person. Here, that underlying fear was still present, but instead of being a pariah, he was treated more like... a foreign dignitary of a powerful nation. It was strange for Will to see. 

"Why do they do that?" Will asked quietly as a citizen nodded their head in a small bow as they passed the boys' table. 

Nico shuffled forward in his chair to lean his elbows on the table. He looked Will in the eye and said with grave sincerity,

"Politics." 

As Nico's lips twisted into a wry smirk, Will couldn't help but chortle. 

"Here, I'm considered the ambassador of Pluto. I have a seat in Senate meetings, but it's only because they are afraid of my dad. I'm not part of the city or the legion but under Roman law, I'm part of the government." He sat back in the chair, throwing his arm over the seat back. "Politics." He spat. "They give me a ceremonial toga but not a place to sleep." 

Will frowned. "Is that why there was a pile of blankets in the shrine of Pluto? Do you sleep there when you're here?"

"I did." Nico nodded. "A couple years ago, when I first came here. Now I stay in the Praetor's quarters when I visit. No one dares say no to Reyna and Frank." He smiled wryly. "Speaking of..."

"Nico!" Came a high and musical voice from across the yard. Heading towards them fast was a head of richly coiled golden hair crowning a young woman in a purple t-shirt. Nico's face immediately softened into what some would call scathing, but Will knew to be fondness. 

"Hazel." He said firmly as he stood, ever the gentleman. Hazel, however, barreled into her brother with the affectionate force of a St. Bernard puppy. The siblings embraced fondly, pale olive skin wrapping around dark bronze, as Nico placed a chaste familial kiss on his sister's brow. 

"It's so good to see you!" Pluto's daughter beamed. Her teeth were dazzling in comparison to her dark lips. "When Will called and said you were having trouble, I was so worried. I'm so glad you've figured something out!"

"Well, I hope so." Nico replied hesitantly. "We'll see once we talk to father. Have you had lunch yet?" 

Hazel shook her head, her bright curls bounding around her face. Nico pulled out a chair for the young lady next to Will and they ordered some sandwiches. 

The three of them chatted over lunch, catching up on the past months. Nico told stories of things that had happened in the underworld over the spring and summer- including an incident involving William Shakespeare wearing fishnets and a corset, a story which Nico promised to tell Will in its entirety later. Hazel told stories of the legion and her life at New Rome, about the unicorn and Arion and Jason's quest to build shrines for all the minor gods. Eventually the sun began to set as it does so early in the winter, and Will remembered their purpose here.

"I hate to break up the conversation," he said as he stood, "but shouldn't we be going to the underworld now? I mean, we've got Hazel. What else are we waiting for?"

Hazel raised her eyebrows and looked between Will and her brother in confusion. Nico simply ran his thumb over his brow and sighed. 

"Will, we're not taking Hazel."

"But I thought..."

"I can't go to the underworld." Hazel said solemnly. "If I do, I'll have to stay. Forever. Nico and I are both... from the past, but our situations are different."

It was Will's turn to look between the two siblings in confusion. Then it dawned on him- while Nico had been in the Lotus Hotel, Hazel had actually _died._ Lord Hades was fond of his children, but he was fond of the law moreso.

"So your father..." he began.

"Yes." Nico replied. "As long as Hazel stays away from our father and the underworld, he can claim ignorance and she can go on living."

Hazel nodded. "That's why Nico is the one who does all of father's bidding. As much as I would love to help, it would kill me. Literally." 

Nico placed his hand over Hazel's without comment, their fingers overlapping silently. She grasped his in return and squeezed. 

"Anyway," she continued, "we're waiting on your third to be finished with Praetor duties for the day. It's someone father has been dying to meet." She said with a gleam in her amber eyes.

Oh no. 

Were they about to embark on a quest with the infamous Queen of New Rome? The daughter of Bellona? Nico's adoptive and overprotective older sister? Will gulped. "R...R...Reyna?" 

"Even better!" Hazel beamed.

Will turned to Nico, wide-eyed and eyebrow raised.

Nico sighed.

"We're taking Frank Zhang." 

Huh? Frank Zhang? Will had heard that name before, but they hadn't really met. Everyone knew the names of the seven demigods of prophecy. Wasn't he Hazel's boyfriend? Oh gods Nico was taking _both_ chthonic demigod boyfriends home to meet dad. Oh no. 

"Oh Nico!" Hazel's outburst drew Will from his thoughts. "Since you're here, can I practice?"

"Of course." Nico replied, taking a sip of his drink. "Do you want to try both of us?"

"Do you think I can!?" She said excitedly.

Will looked to Nico, desperately seeking clarification. Nico obliged. "Hazel has been learning shadow-travel. She waits until I'm nearby to practice- it's dangerous to learn on your own. She's going to take us to the Praetor's villa to meet up with Frank." 

Hazel nodded enthusiastically and put out her hand for Will to take. Once they were all joined, she took a deep breath. As she released it, the three demigods sank into the shadows cast by the setting sun. 

Shadow-traveling twice in one day was not very high on Will's list of favourite things. He stumbled out of the ether disoriented and shivering, straight into a broad, warm chest.

"Ummm..." a voice resonated within the rib cage his face was resting against. Will looked up to see a soft, caring face with angular brown hooded eyes and a concerned look. "....hi?" 

"Hi..." Will sputtered, taking in the sight of the Praetor. He wasn't bad-looking- muscular, but with baby fat still clinging to his cheeks, a short crop of dark hair in a military cut, and an awkward smile. 

"Frank!" Hazel cried out, but her tone was frantic- not one of an excited girlfriend. Something was wrong. Will spun around to see the situation just as Frank rushed forward.

It was Nico- his eyes wide in panic and his hand over his mouth in shock while his other clutched desperately at his sister's. 

"Damnit!" Will cursed under his breath.

It was happening again.


	6. Descent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blessed Yule everyone! Here's your present: chapter 6.

It was dark, and cold, and they were moving so _quickly_ and he wasn't sure where they were anymore...

He held tightly to Bianca's hand, it was warm in his own small one. 

He felt weightless, and simultaneously like he weighed a thousand kilograms. And it was so _cold..._

There were voices around him. They were deep, and whispering, and scratchy, and wailing and screaming and calling to him.

_You're not like the others..._

_You're worthless..._

_They will come for you..._

_Abomination..._

_You don't deserve to live..._

_They all hate you..._

_She only puts up with you because you're related..._

"No no _no..._ " he screamed back at them.

They were too loud, too real, and he wanted it all to _stop._ He had no idea why his father had brought them into this dark place but he wanted it to _stop_. Nico yanked his hand out of Bianca's to try and cover his ears, and suddenly everything became so much worse. 

He tumbled into the darkness.

Alone.

\-------

Nico's eyes snapped open as he gasped for air.

He was sitting on the floor with his hands over his ears. He could feel Frank kneeling behind him and Hazel at his side, but all he could see was Will's bright blue eyes looking concernedly at his own from where he knelt between Nico's legs. 

He took a moment to still his thoughts and get his breathing under control. 

Will silently breathed with him. He knew that Nico wouldn't appreciate calling any attention to himself in such a public setting, even if no one else was around. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Will whispered in Nico's ear as he helped him to stand. 

Nico shook his head. "I want to get out of here." 

Will nodded. "I'll grab my bag. Where are we staying tonight?"

"We're not." Nico said firmly, brushing off Will's hand. "Frank, grab your bag."

"Um... are you sure that's a good idea?" Frank asked with trepidation at the same time that Will exclaimed "Absolutely not!" 

"I'm fine!" Nico growled back. "The sooner we get going the sooner I can fix this, for _good._ So let's _go_."

"No." Will replied defiantly. "D..."

" _Doctor's Orders_ are for nurses and orderlies, and I am neither, Solace!" Nico spat. 

The three demigods around him fell silent. Nico stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and refused to make eye contact. 

The blonde sighed in frustration before turning to the Romans. "Praetor Frank, please pack your things and get a good night's rest. I'll see you in the morning. Hazel, it was very nice to speak with you again. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a word with my boyfriend. G'night." He smiled softly as he turned back to said surly teen. Frank mouthed 'boyfriend?' at Hazel with an inquisitive look, but Hazel simply nodded and took his arm to lead him away. 

"I can _do_ this, Will. I don't need you to hold my hand and force me to..." 

"Just because you _can_ doesn't mean you _have to,_ Nico. The Underworld isn't going anywhere you know." 

"And neither is this problem unless I _do_ something about it! Which I was about to go and _do_ before you went all 'Doctors Orders' on me!"

"Actually, I was going to say," Will began, " _...don't_ you think we should take a night to rest before we leave? Nico... you know I would never..."

"I'm _fine,_ Solace." Nico interjected. "I can do this. I'm not going to collapse like some damsel in distress as soon as we get there. I don't need to rest."

Will sighed. "Maybe you don't but I could sure use it. The sun has already set and I'm exhausted. I think Frank, too."

"I... I didn't think about that." The dark haired demigod replied quietly. "I'm sorry, I just... it's been a rough day." 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Nico refused to meet his eyes. "...We should get to the Praetor's villa." He said, avoiding the question entirely.

Will nodded, reaching out to offer his hand. 

Nico scoffed, surly, but took it anyway. 

They walked in silence over the cobbled streets of New Rome, hand in hand. The quiet used to make Will uncomfortable, but he had learned that sometimes Nico just needed a bit of time to sort out his thoughts before speaking. 

So they walked under the stars and the torchlight, safe in the boundary of the city.

Eventually they arrived at a two-story stucco house with a simple porch and purple shutters. 

"Is this the praetor's villa?" Will asked quietly. 

Nico nodded and pulled a key out of his pocket. He slid it into the lock and opened the door. 

"Reyna won't be home until later, but she knows you'll be staying here." He said as he turned on the light inside. Will nodded. 

It was a small house, simply but elegantly decorated. The two boys went up the stairs and Nico opened the door to the spare room. He set Will's bag on the floor and shuffled to the door. "Bathroom is one door down on your right. I'll see you in the morning."

"Which room are you staying in?" Will asked nonchalantly as he rummaged through his bag for a toothbrush.

Nico stopped short, his hand on the doorframe. "None of them," he replied, a hint of confusion in his voice. "I'll stay at my father's temple..."

"On the cold floor!?" Will gasped. "Nico, you can't! That's just not right!"

"I've done it plenty of times before..."

"That doesn't make it right!" Will threw his arms in the air as he paced. "No, that won't do at all. Just stay in here with me, where it's warm." 

Nico's face flushed fifteen different shades of scarlet in less than a second.  
"Th...that would be...improper..." he sputtered. 

Oh, Will thought, Nico was raised in a much different time. He kept forgetting. "It's ok Nico, it'll be just like a sleepover. You've had a sleepover before, right?" 

Nico shook his head, still blushing.

"Oh gods. We have sleepovers every night in the Apollo cabin! It's really no big deal." 

Nico shook his head. 

Will chuckled. "Ok, then. So you take the bed, and I'll take the floor..."

"If I'm not allowed to sleep on the floor then neither are you, Solace." Nico said before he realized it, his hand covering his mouth as soon as the words escaped. 

"Well then we'll share." Will beamed. "It's a big enough bed, I'm sure... Nico?"

The dark haired boy was leaning heavily against the doorframe, eyes wide. Will hastened toward him, concerned. Nico waved him off. "I'm fine." He replied with just a bit too much haste. "I... no. It's not proper for two... _people..._... that are unmarried..." 

"Nico this isn't the forties anymore..." Will began. He saw Nico bristle visibly, ready for another fight, but he wasn't finished, "... but if it means that much to you I'll respect that." Will could see Nico relax against the wood of the doorframe, relieved. "However, there is no way you are sleeping on a floor tonight. You're shadow traveling us tomorrow, and I know how much you need sleep on a daily basis. You're taking the bed. I'll take the couch downstairs, it looks very comfortable." Will paused. "Is that alright with you?"

Nico was still for a second, then he nodded. He stepped away from where he was clinging to the wall and stopped next to the bed. 

Will reached out a hand, a silent request for permission. Nico granted it, and Will pulled him into a hug.

"Goodnight Nico, sleep well, okay?"

Nico nodded into the soft material of Will's jacket. 

"Thank you." He muttered softly. 

"I'll see you in the morning." Will smiled.  
\-------------

Morning came quietly for Will, the scent of coffee and biscuits rousing him from slumber. Like a cat, he stretched out on the couch and opened his eyes. There was Nico, sitting on the armchair fully dressed.

"Y're up early..." Will drawled through a yawn.

"Good morning to you too." Nico said as he handed Will a cup of coffee. "Reyna is still asleep- she had a long night last night. We should leave before she wakes." He held his own with both hands, staring into it like a pensieve. 

Will sipped his coffee and rubbed his eyes. "Something on your mind?" 

"Yesterday, I..." Nico began, fingering the handle of his coffee mug. "I'm still not used to talking about this stuff, bear with me." He breathed slowly, gathering his thoughts. "After Hazel shadow-traveled the four of us, I...I remembered the first time I ever shadow-traveled. We were getting ready to come to America, but then something happened.... I can't recall what...my father grabbed us and pulled us into the ether. I didn't know what was going on, and the spectres within were speaking to me and I..." he stumbled, catching his breath, "... I let go. I got lost in the ether, alone."

"Gods, Nico..."

"Obviously I found my way out." Nico huffed sardonically. "But yeah... at the time, it was terrifying. I'm... a little nervous. I know, logically, that it was only because I was a passenger instead of the one leading, and I know if I was going to remember something while traveling by myself I would have done it already, but still..." he rambled. 

"You're right." Will replied, swirling his cup. "The chances of you having an episode while traveling us today are very slim. But it's okay to be nervous Nico. Even if something does happen, you have Frank and myself. We've got you."

Nico chuckled softly, his expression unreadable. 

"Get dressed, Solace. We're going to L.A." Nico stood and went upstairs.

"Wait what..?"  
\--------------

Nico was, unsurprisingly, refusing to answer Will's questions on the way to meet Frank at the shrine of Pluto. He had an aura of mystery to maintain, after all. 

In true praetorial form, Frank was there early waiting for them. 

"Praetor Zhang." Nico greeted.

"Ambassador di Angelo." Frank replied. "Are you ready to go?"

Nico nodded curtly. "Don't let go." He warned as he extended his hand. 

Both boys grabbed it, making an awkward team circle. The son of Hades merely rolled his eyes before sinking into the shadows of his father's temple, dragging the two demigods with him. 

The voices were still there, they always were, but after so many years he had learned to ignore them, refute them even. 

They were only voices. They weren't real.

He concentrated on his destination, and forced himself up, out, and forward into the light.

The darkness dispelled around them as he guided them to the cold stone marble floor of Dead or Alive Records, in sunny L.A.

"You can open your eyes now." He said quietly to Frank, who, not quite as used to shadow-traveling as Will was, still had his eyes clenched shut. 

Frank immediately regained his posture and brushed himself off. "This... is a recording studio..." he sputtered out, confused. 

Nico nodded.

"I thought we were going to the Underworld?" Frank turned to Will, hoping the son of Apollo would have answers. 

Will only shrugged and shook his head. "I don't ask anymore." 

Nico covered his mouth with his first to stifle a chuckle as he pushed open the _Employees Only_ door to reveal a golden elevator inlaid with jet and onyx and human bone. "We are." He smirked.

Frank shuddered at the sight of the elevator doors. "Is that what I think it is?" He whispered to Will, motioning at the off-white pieces of inlay. 

Will flattened his lips and nodded. "Looks like it." 

They piled into the elevator and Nico pressed the only button on the panel.

"This is... not what I was expecting..." Frank said, fiddling with his backpack straps.

"Heh." Nico huffed. "You were expecting to travel straight to the Underworld?"

Will and Frank shared a look and nodded.

Nico shook his head. "There's a process to these things, and my father is _all_ about rules and process." 

Frank looked to Will with mild concern, but the son of Apollo only shrugged. 

The doors opened, and the three demigods stepped out into a long, stone tunnel. 

"This way." Nico said as he walked forward through the darkness. 

Will slowed down to let Nico take the lead, and fell into step next to the son of Mars.

"Praetor Zhang, right?" he asked. 

"You can just call me Frank." He chuckled. Will nodded. "What's up?"

"I wanted to thank you." Will replied. Frank raised an eyebrow. "For helping us, yesterday, when Nico had an episode."

"Ahh." Frank shuffled his feet. "Well, I have a bit of experience with that."

"Hazel?"

"You know?"

"Yeah, we've talked." Will said cheerfully. "Confidentially, of course."

"Yeah." Frank scratched at the nape of his neck. "It used to be pretty bad- one moment she would be talking to you and the next she would be almost lifeless. She would snap out of it after a minute or so, but one time she and Nico were on the roof of the temple of Pluto and she nearly fell..."

"By the gods..."

"Nico took care of her, kept her from falling. I think it scared him, though. That's when she decided she had to do something, you know? Hazel told me he was the one that convinced her. I'm not sure how..."

"I wonder if that's part of the reason Nico is being so adamant about this." Will replied. 

Frank nodded, understanding. "The children of the underworld are two peas in a pod, eh?" He said with a smile. 

Will chuckled. "Yeah, and dating them is a chore."

"Oh... Hazel and I aren't..."

"You're not dating?" Will asked, suddenly feeling he had misstepped. 

"No, I mean, I wish we were!" Frank backpedaled, his hands up in a placating gesture. "I just... Hazel is very old-fashioned and proper, you know, since..."

"Since she was born in the thirties?" Will drawled. 

"Yeah. That. So with her being fourteen and me turning seventeen soon, we want to wait a couple years before we actually start _going steady_ as she says." He smiled wistfully, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "I really like her, though. She's amazing- she's smart, and quick, and she's amazing with her sword. She's good with animals, and have you seen what she can do with metal and gemstones? And _magic?_ Wow. Just... wow." 

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Nico had a conniption when I suggested we sleep in the same bed- just for one night! He was about to sleep on the cold marble of Pluto's shrine! In the snow!" Will rolled his eyes, exasperated. "I took the couch downstairs to spare his sanity, but I wasn't about to let him sleep outside." 

Frank smiled shyly. "Nico is.... different. I was afraid of him, when we first met. He was skin and bones and anger, and way too much darkness. But he's really... Nico is a nice guy. Especially to Hazel. He cares, he just goes about it differently." 

Will grinned, unable to hold back the pride he had for his boyfriend. "Nico is kind and generous, but he won't ever show it. He never thinks of himself. He could easily be the most powerful demigod of our generation, but he doesn't care about all that. He just wants people to be safe and happy. He would sacrifice himself to save another in a heartbeat... so when he actually took a stand to do something for _himself,_ I wasn't going to stop him." 

"So here we are." Frank said solemnly, his gaze sweeping over the vast impressing darkness of the underworld. 

"Yeah. Thanks for coming with us, anyway."

"Anything for Hazel's favorite brother." He shrugged. "Besides, I'll have to meet him sooner or later, might as well be now."

"You mean their dad?"

Frank gulped softly and nodded. 

"Solace! Zhang! I could use a little help over here." Came Nico's voice echoing from up ahead. The boys picked up the pace to catch up to the son of Hades. 

There, in the darkness behind him, was a huge figure. It was breathing heavily, and Will swore he could hear it growling. Frank instinctively turned into a grizzly bear, ready to fight.

Nico shook his head and whistled. The creature came out of the shadows with a lumbering, heavy gait. One giant, clawed foot after another, it emerged. 

One giant, slobbering, jet-black Rottweiler head with glowing red eyes, then another, then a third. 

Frank stood on his furry haunches as Will backed up into Nico, his hand on his pack.

Nico whistled once more, and three sets of ears perked up as one giant tail wagged, creating a thunderous breeze of dampness and decay. 

Cerberus crouched down on his front paws, ready to play. Behind Nico, Will laughed at the absurdity of it all. Frank shifted back into his human form with a sigh of relief as Nico stepped forward to scratch the giant dog under all one of his chins.

"I don't have enough hands for all three heads..." He said dryly, gesturing over his shoulder. 

For the third time that morning, Will and Frank shared a glance before shrugging and going for it. The next thing they knew they were neck-deep in oily dog fur and slobber giving Cerberus the time of his immortal life. 

"I hope you didn't bring your friends down here just to see my pet, Nico." Came a soft but scathing voice from behind them. 

Nico went stiff as he turned around, the two others following. There, standing in the darkness and radiating her own light, was a woman. She was crowned in flowers made of gemstones, her robes a pale shade of lavender that seemed washed-out by the darkness. 

"Well, boy? Aren't you going to introduce me?"

Nico cleared his throat. "William Solace, son of Apollo, and Praetor Frank Zhang, son of Mars, this is my step-mother..." Nico gestured to the woman as she tilted her head regally.

"... the goddess Persephone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one fought me quite a bit during writing. I originally had our boys spending the night in the same bed very awkwardly, by it just didn't feel right. Maybe later. For now, look forward to awkward Underworld family time and a major plot development in chapter 7!


	7. Division

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey through the Underworld doesn't go as planned

Upon hearing her voice, Nico stood ramrod straight as if someone had dropped an ice cube down his shirt. Frank and Will shuffled awkwardly, not sure whether to bow. 

Clad in a beautiful dusty lavender gown, the queen of the underworld regarded the three demigods with distaste. 

"Nico..." she said frigidly as she grasped the chain of Cerberus' collar, "... why have your brought these two into my domain?" She fiddled with the chain absent-mindedly, lazily drawing her fierce green eyes to her stepson.

"My lady..." Nico replied respectfully, "... I have come to inquire Lord Hades. I was not permitted to leave camp without an escort."

"And why, pray tell, have you chosen these two?" Persephone arched her eyebrow, looking the two boys up and down as if she were appraising cuts of meat.

"May I introduce William Solace, son of Apollo, and my... boyfriend..." Nico stammered, the rules of etiquette and his own embarrassment attempting to mince his words, "... and Frank Zhang, son of Mars, beloved of my younger sister." 

Persephone tilted her head in understanding, her eyes drifting to the aforementioned demigods. "I see..." Nico was forbidden to say the name of Hazel Levesque in his father's kingdom- to do so would acknowledge that she lived, and would force Hades' hand in returning her to the afterlife. But there were loopholes to every law, after all. 

She turned first to Will, his blonde hair, gentle freckles and glowing skin, even in the darkness of the underworld, then to Frank, his strong frame, proud black eyes and glossy, cropped hair. 

"Well then." She continued, "I will permit these mortals to travel to the palace of my husband, but they must find the way there themselves, like every other hero before them..."

"Persephone!" Nico gasped, immediately realizing his mistake as he pressed a hand over his mouth. Will and Frank stood still, momentary panic written on their faces. Luckily, Persephone only glared at him, and continued "... as have been the rules since the beginning. Nico, _darling_ ," she drawled with saccharine sarcasm, "... return Cerberus to his post at the gates of Erebus, and meet me in my garden. We must speak."

Nico nodded and hung his head in deference. "Yes milady." He muttered, taking the chains of the giant dog that were offered to him. Keeping a tight reign on his annoyance, he sighed as his stepmother walked away, seeming to float over the dark stone ground like a passive-aggressive cloud. Cerberus panted excitedly and licked at his hair.

"Stop that!" Nico muttered half-heartedly, turning to his friends. "I'm so sorry. I should have just come down here on my own and saved you both the trouble." 

Will placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Chiron would never have let you." He said, not that Nico ever needed Chiron's, or anyone's, permission to do anything. "Besides, how often does a demigod get to visit the underworld while they're still _alive?_ We'll be fine. Right Zhang?" 

Frank nodded firmly. "Besides, this is probably the only chance I'll ever have to meet Lord Hades. I wanted to ask you to take me here one day, I just..."

"You were scared?" Nico offered.

"No..." Frank returned, "I was waiting for the right moment. But this works out great. Will and I get to meet Lord Hades and you get an escort, even if it is just a formality."

Will smiled and glanced at his boyfriend. He seemed to exude calm, as if to say _this isn't your fault, everything is fine, we'll be fine_. 

Nico took a deep breath and clenched Cerberus' chains. "I can't tell you exactly how to get to my father's palace- it's part of the rules. You'll have to find your own way there. _Remember_ the myths, the stories of your ancestors. They have all the answers you need. Respect the kingdom, respect the rules, and don't lose your coins."

Will clenched his hand on Nico's shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. "We'll see you there." He whispered. 

Nico nodded and disappeared into the darkness, the giant three-headed Rottweiler leaving a trail of drool in his wake. 

"So..." Frank scratched at the nape of his neck. "We head to the river, right?"

"I assume so." Will replied. He adjusted the bag Nico had packed for him on his shoulder and looked around. "Any idea where that is?"

"No, but I can find out. Can you hold this for me?" Frank slipped his jacket and bag off his back and handed them to a very confused Will Solace. "Now don't freak out..."

Frank rolled his shoulder and crouched low to the ground until his hands touched stone. Then, before Will's eyes, he transformed. 

Muscles shrank and contorted and elongated as fur sprouted all over Frank's body. Clothing melted into skin and bristle until standing before him was a large, floppy-earred bloodhound.

"...Wow..." was all Will could manage to spurt out. 

Frank-the-dog seemed to look at him with concern, urging him once again to not freak out. Will gulped and nodded, and Frank put his nose to the ground, literally, and began sniffing.

"Romans." Will shook his head and followed. 

\----------

Nico gently pushed open the ornate silverwork gate of the queen's garden, trying to be as quiet as possible. The gate squeaked eerily despite his efforts.

"Come in." He heard a voice call to him from within the garden. It was one of the most beautiful places in the underworld- trees and plants of silver and gold bloomed flowers of precious gems in a cold imitation of life. He shivered, rubbing his hands against his bare arms and wishing he had his jacket. The place was gorgeous in its own right, but compared to an actual, sun-lit garden, it seemed, well, _dead._

"Sit." Persephone gestured to an empty chair across from the small table where she sat, sipping a cup of... something. Nico stiffly took his place and placed his hands in his lap, twisting his ring- his _father's_ silver ring- on his finger. 

Persephone eyed him over the rim of her cup, her pale green eyes watching, waiting for any misstep or breach of protocol on his end. She sipped her drink agonizingly slowly. 

Nico sat still and kept his eyes low. He could feel the fine hairs on his arm prickle under her gaze. With his jacket elsewhere, she could see them too. 

Finally, she spoke. 

"You may speak frankly with me, step-son." She said as she leaned back in her chair. 

Nico relaxed. He was still very wary of offending the woman who had turned him into a weed on more than one occasion, but at least he could speak normally. 

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" He asked, still holding his ring. 

"I'll get straight to the point." Persephone straightened in her chair and looked Nico in the eye. "I want to know what exactly you've remembered about your mother." 

\---------

 _Are all quests like this?_ Will wondered as he followed his boyfriend's-sister's-crush-in-the-form-of-a-dog through the underworld until Frank sniffed out the banks of the River Styx. 

There on the rocky shore was a boat, and standing next to the boat was a very tall blond man in a crisp Italian suit. 

"Not more children..." the man muttered sadly as their footsteps reached his ears. He glanced over at the demigods with pity until he realized what they were. Then his pitted soulless eyes rolled in annoyance.

"Well then, more godlings come to annoy me, I see." He said. His voice lilted and carried, with an accent one could call British, but as if he had picked it up somewhere instead of learning it naturally. "I'll tell you what I tell everyone else: beat it. I don't ferry the living, and I _especially_ don't ferry mutts." 

Frank-the-dog stood up on his hind legs and rolled his shoulders, transforming back into Frank-the-Chinese-Canadian-demigod. 

"You must be Charon." He said as he cracked his neck. Combined with his wide shoulders and muscular stature, the innocent motion came across as almost threatening. "Hazel told me about you, she said you ferried her across for free because she..." he caught himself, minding the particular rules of Hazel's situation,"... _was_ Pluto's daughter." 

"She was." Charon replied, inspecting his cuffs. "You're not."

"But we are favored..." Will said, stepping forward. "My name is William Solace, and I am the boyfriend of Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. My companion, Frank Zhang, is beloved of Nico's sister. We need to meet with Lord Hades at his palace for important business."

Charon regarded the two with distaste and brushed an imaginary piece of lint from his impeccable clothing. 

"I suppose I could arrange that, provided you have proper payment. For souls I require one drachma each, but the living are much heavier." He said with a smirk. 

"How much?" Frank asked as he patted his pockets, searching for spare drachma. Will was searching for something in his rucksack, rustling through the pockets. Suddenly he stood and presented his hands to Charon, palm-up.

"Will this cover it?" He said with a knowing grin.

Charon's eyes went wide. There in Will's palms were ten glittering, silver drachmas- five for each of them. It was easily enough to afford another bespoke custom suit, and perhaps a few sets of golden cufflinks to boot. 

Charon passed his pale hand over Will's and the coins disappeared. 

"Get in." He sighed, picking up how oar.

Frank and Will scrambled into the boat and seated themselves, awkwardly silent as the ferryman towed them down the River Styx. 

\-------

Nico recounted the few glimpses he had seen into his past- his mother singing at the opera house, an argument in the kitchen, bombs going off in their city, shadow-traveling for the first time, and the presents that Hades had brought his mother.

"I remember he brought her a necklace..." Nico said quietly, "... but he said the bouquet was from _you._." 

His brows furrowed and his lip twisted as he considered the thought. He has always thought that Persephone hated his mother, as Hera despised all the women (and a few men) that Zeus had affairs with. Why would Persephone, queen of the underworld, send flowers to the woman her husband was having an affair with? Was she really that conniving?

No, it couldn't be. It was hazy, but Nico could distinctly remember his mother being pleased at the gift, not shocked or wary as he would expect from a passive-aggressive maneuver. It must have been genuine. 

He looked up at his step-mother to see her sipping her tea casually, a mixture of amusement and sadness painted on her delicate face. She lifted her eyebrow as if to say _go on..._

"Why did you send my mother flowers?" Nico finally asked, his thumb curling under to turn his silver ring. 

Persephone set down her cup. "What I am about to tell you must remain a secret between us, Nico. You must swear it to me." 

Nico nodded and muttered "Upon the Styx I swear to keep this secret." 

The goddess sighed, melting into her chair. "Lord Hades loved your mother very much. All of Olympus knows this. They assume that I, like other wives of adulterous husbands, have been cheated in this scenario. The truth is, of course, nothing of the sort." She paused, waiting for Nico to react negatively, but he kept his demeanor. So she continued. 

"Your father and I have never been unfaithful to one another. Your father loved Maria di Angelo, and so did I. We were, the three of us, perfectly happy in our arrangement. Unfortunately the Queen of Olympus and goddess of marriage would never approve, the old witch, so we had to keep it secret even before the pact between Hades and his brothers.

"During the summer, Hades and I would visit your mother separately. In winter, she would come to the underworld to stay with the both of us. Until your sister was born, of course. Then Maria stopped visiting and insisted we only meet in the living world." Persephone said with a huff, as if the thought of Maria not visiting her home offended her. 

"Bianca...." Nico mumbled quietly. "I... I think I remember..." 

He pressed a hand to his temple and shivered, lamenting the absence of his jacket. 

"Nico?" He heard Persephone say, but he couldn't respond. He tried to wave her off, but his limbs felt heavy, like he was in a thick cloud. He could feel the world tilting to one side, but he was powerless to right himself. Despite all of this, he felt strangely comfortable, like drifting off to a long-needed sleep. Gently, the world turned white. 

\-------

After leaving Charon to count out his coin, Will and Frank followed the steep road of the underworld up the hill. It was less of a _road_ and more of a well-worn footpath. Though with Charon's comment about the weight of souls, Frank had to wonder how they had ever left a mark on the stony ground. 

Had there really been that many souls?

Over the course of eons, he presumed it was possible.

Upward and upward they went, until their calves started to become sore. At least Will's were, Frank had transformed into a mountain goat to make it easier.

Will would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous.

Eventually the ground plateaued, and they found themselves looking at a great stone wall, blacker than the surrounding darkness. 

"Vantablack..." Will mumbled. 

"Sorry, what?" Asked Frank as she stood, shaking off his goat fur. 

"Nothing, sorry. I was just thinking that this wall is so dark, it looks like it's not real. There's a new paint pigment or something that does that- Vantablack. One of my sisters was talking about it."

"Oh." Replied Frank. "I was about to say, because that thing is called Erebus, not Vantablack." He chucked uncomfortably. 

They were spared the awkwardness of the situation by a loud howling from their left. Together they turned and peered into the darkness. 

There, sitting at a large metal gate with his chain intact, was Cerberus, his three heads howling in harmony. The left head sniffed, turned towards the boys and barked. The other two sets of ears perked up and turned to look until all three heads were staring the boys down as one giant blank tail wagged rapidly against the ground. 

"Do you think he remembers us?" Will asked, not taking his eyes from the gigantic dog.

"..... Yep." Frank replied stoically as Cerberus leapt forward and pressed his enormous chest to the ground. "He wants to play. I don't think we're going to get past him unless we play." 

"Uh-huh...." Will trailed off. He had nothing against dogs, or any animal, but this particular dog was big, _really_ big, much bigger than the monsters that were in the forest at Camp. It was a bit concerning, even knowing that this particular monster was basically Nico's pet. 

Frank broke him from his thoughts. "So, I could shoot an arrow and tell him to fetch but I don't know how long his chain is, it might not work." He mused. If only he had a squeaky toy in his bag- Cerberus seemed lonely, after all. Frank had to wonder if Lord Hades ever came out and played with him. "I'm going to transform into a dog and play with him, you go open the gate. I'll run after you when I'm ready."

Will nodded. Frank handed over his bag and transformed into a Doberman, using his long lithe legs to run and jump around Cerberus in a playful manner. While they were busy, Will walked calmly over to the metal gate. It wasn't even locked- only a simple latch kept it shut. He undid the latch and pushed the doors open, slipping through to the other side. He turned to see how Frank was getting along when he noticed something. 

Tucked into one of Cerberus' thick leather collars was a familiar piece of leather in a different color, barely visible against the beast's dark fur.

It was Nico's jacket.

Nico loved that jacket. It was the first thing he had replaced after the war. He always had it on, even in ninety-degree weather. His attachment to it bordered on obsessive. He wouldn't have left it without a reason.

"Frank!" He shouted, watching as the Doberman looked at him. "In the left collar- grab the jacket, it's important!" 

It was a strange sight to see a Doberman nod, but Frank got right to work leaping at Cerberus' three heads and avoiding the playfully snapping jaws until he had his teeth in the leather garment and pulled it free. Frank sprinted through the gate, jacket in jaw and panting as Will snapped the latch back into place. 

Cerberus whined pitifully on the other side of the gate as Frank transformed back. Breathing hard, Frank reached through the metal bars to pat him on one of his noses. "Sorry boy, we've got to go. Maybe I can come and play again one day."

As Frank caught his breath, Will rifles through Nico's jacket. There was a small statue of Hades which he put back, a couple drachmas and a older piece of paper. Will slipped the jacket on his shoulders and opened the note.

Scribbled in Nico's distinctive cursive was a message:

_"Find your brother William."_

\----------

White.

He remembered the color white. 

It was cold.

Nico squinted and adjusted to the blinding glare coming off of the... snow?

Yes. Snow.

He was walking through the snow, crunching thousands of snowflakes under his small boot-clad feet as he held a large, cold hand. His father's hand. His father was smiling.

Someone was laughing, a high, musical laugh that made him feel warm inside. 

He looked over.

There was Bianca, holding hands with Mamá and another woman with dark hair and green eyes in a thick primrose coat. 

Persephone.

His sister was swinging between the both of them, and Mamá was laughing. 

There were five of them in this family, not three, not four...

Five. 

The bare trees sparkled under the weight of the dewdrops frozen in their boughs as the sun moved across the sky. 

He was cold, his breath turning to mist in front of his tiny frame, and yet he felt so warm. 

"Nico!" 

His mother was calling him, beckoning him over. He looked up at his father, with his coal-black hair. He nodded, and Nico skipped on tiny legs through the snow.

The voice changed.

"Nico!" It called to him, but it was deeper, older, less musical.

It wasn't his mother calling him anymore.

It was Persephone. 

 

\----------

"What's wrong?" Frank asked suddenly as they made their way along the now much-more-well-worn path through the underworld. 

Considering that they had just passed through one of the screening points for the undead, the fact that the path was now _more_ well-worn instead of less led Frank to believe that Charon had dropped them off in the middle of nowhere along the Styx instead of the usual port. However, he was pretty sure the perturbed expression on Will's face was not in relation to that particular oddity. 

Will pulled the note he had found earlier out of his pocket and unfolded it. 

He stared at the note, turning it this way and that. "I can't figure it out." He finally sighed. 

Frank stepped over to look over his arm as they walked. 

"It says 'Find your brother, William.' Seems pretty simple to me." He shrugged.

"No, thats not it." Will replied. "There's no comma; it says 'Find your brother William.' It's different."

"Maybe Nico just forgot the comma?"

Will shook his head. "He wouldn't do that. He went to school in the 40's, they were very strict about grammar and penmanship back then. Plus, Nico _never_ calls me _William._ Solace, yes, but never William. It's a clue, it has to be. I..." he stopped, swallowed thickly, and continued, "... I have a _lot_ of brothers in the underworld. I just don't know of any sons of Apollo named _William._ "

Frank nodded. "Other than yourself of course."

Will rolled his eyes and pushed the note against Frank's chest in a gesture of good-natured sass. 

Frank chuckled and grabbed the note reflexively, looking over for himself. "Does this mean anything?" 

Will stopped in his tracks to look. There on the back of the note was a simple drawing of what looked like the dining pavilion back at Camp, but different. "How did I miss this?" He muttered to himself. 

Frank tapped his shoulder. "Do you think that has something to do with it?" He was pointing to a light just over the ridge. The boys ran forward for a better look.

Just over the ridge was a mass of souls in tape-maze lines the like of which DisneyWorld had never seen, all leading to a huge obsidian and gold pavilion that was lit by green fire.

"Well I see where Nico got his decorating tastes from..." Will mumbled to himself. "Come on, Zhang. We have a William to find." 

\-------

"This is a memory, Nico." She said to him. He was holding her hand, and in his other he held Bianca's. The world began to sharpen, like waking from a dream. Vague feelings and recollections became detailed though the landscape was still silent. 

"I'm here with you." Persephone said, but it was not the Persephone whose hand he held, it was another, standing just behind him in her chiffon dress that would be very impractical in the cold. "I remember this day. Your father and I went to visit your mother in Italy for your birthday. Here, listen." As she spoke, it was as if someone dropped a needle on a record. Suddenly the dull cacophony of barely-remembered sound clarified into intelligible speech. 

"She does have a penchant for drama!" His mother was giggling quietly at something Persephone had said. 

"Oh you have no idea." Persephone replied, exasperated. "Freezing over the entire earth for a few months just because she's still upset that I'm happily married is _nothing_ compared to when she first found out! She caused the Ice Age!" She chuckled. "And did you know, darling, all those stories they tell about Hades _kidnapping_ me? It's all a farce. I walked straight into the underworld, slapped him on his prudish arse and told him "I'm going to be your queen!" Didn't I, darling?"

"Now Persephone..." came the deep, smooth voice of Hades with only half-hearted reprimand. 

The women giggled with the two children still between them, crunching through the snow.

"It was all a cover-up to save face, of course." Persephone continued, with the bemused attention of Maria di Angelo, "Zeus simply _couldn't_ have rumors of his beautiful daughter Koré scuttling off to the underworld to be with its Lord, so Hera fabricated the whole story. He even changed my name! _Persephone._ It means _bringer of chaos_ or my personal favourite, _thresher of death_." She giggled. 

Maria laughed aloud at that one. "Because your mother is the harvest and your husband is death! Oh _mi dio_ that is funny."

Hades smiled. "It pleases me to hear you laugh, Maria. Your voice is the sweetest music, the most beautiful thing in my kingdom when you choose to visit us."

"Save for your wife, of course." Persephone chided. Hades chuckled lowly in response. 

"Don't flatter me so!" Maria said playfully. "I'm sure my beauty fails to compare to Adonis, my loves."

Persephone sighed wistfully, as Hades rolled his ember eyes. "I would prefer your voice to his body any day, Maria." 

The two women, mortal and goddess alike, erupted into peals of laughter that echoed softly against the trees and were hushed by the snow. 

Hearing his mother laugh stirred something in Nico, and he began to laugh as well. Before he knew it all five of them were laughing, standing in the snow in the park. Even Hades chuckled just a bit. Persephone gathered the small boy in her arms and held him close, burying her shining face in his hair. He was cold, and he was warm, and he was comfortable. 

Content, Nico closed his eyes.

"We were happy, the five of us." He heard her say, from afar. "Olympus turned a blind eye to us and we didn't flaunt our happiness. We were free to do as we wished. But then, there was a great war, and a treaty was made both in the mortal world and on Olympus."

Nico opened his eyes. 

He was lying on a garden bench hewn from alabaster, covered in a small pile of soft fabrics. His godly step-mother sat nearby, watching him.

She must have laid him on the bench when he lost consciousness. Nico was unsure of how he felt about that... Persephone had been very cruel to him in the past, both in word and in deed. In his experience, no goddess was ever kind to mortals out of the goodness of their hearts. 

He pushed himself into a sitting position on the bench and with his voice cracking, he asked:

"Why?"

\----------

Will bobbed and weaved through the sea of ghosts as he made his way over and under the line-tape straight to the front. Frank muttered quiet 'sorry' and 'pardon me's in his wake until they reached the focus of the building. 

Inside the pavilion, there was a long mahogany table with three chairs behind it. In the first chair sat a transparent woman with an aviator's cap and a sheepskin jacket. She paused from her stamping to look up at the boys.

"What are two mortals doing the the judgement pavilion?" She said, her accent Midwestern accent thick. 

Frank stepped forward before Will could reply. "We're trying to get to the palace of Hades, ma'am." 

The woman laughed. "Well I'll be, you guys are more lost than I was when my plane went down! I'm afraid that's all the help I can give you, boys. There are strict rules concerning who can find the palace and who cannot." She smiled in sympathy.

"Who's this then, Amelia?" Said the man sitting next to her, just now noticing the abnormality. He had a long beard and a weathered face, and his eyes were hard and cold. 

"Just some mortals looking for the palace." The woman- Amelia- replied. "Nothing to be concerned with Rhadamanthus." 

The ancient king huffed. "Would their names _happen_ to be Solace and Zhang?" He asked, stating the boys down despite referring to them in third person. Frank gulped. Had Hades sent a BOLO out for them? Were they going to be imprisoned? Were they going to be thrown into Tartarus?

"Yes." Will replied firmly, starting the Roman. 

Rhadamanthus nodded. "Wait here then, our colleague has been looking for you. Ah! Here he comes now." 

From their left came a balding man with a pointy mustache wearing pantaloons and pilgrim clogs with his sequin jacket and fishnets. 

"Ah! You must be Misters Solace and Zhang!" He said brightly, taking a flourishing bow.

"How glad I am to meet thee,  
Praetor and brother-mine,  
The prince has asked that I greet thee,  
My light thy way to shine!" 

Will sucked in a breath and looked away, his fist rising to cover his mouth and conceal his reaction. 

"What's wrong?" Frank whispered. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Will said, his voice pitched high in barely-held excitement as he waved Frank off. "Just um... a bit surprised. Yeah. I should've seen it coming."

"So I guess this guy is your _brother William?_ "

"Mhm." Will nodded. "The son of Apollo- William Shakespeare."

"Oh sh..."

"Surely you boys must be on thy way then!" Interrupted the poet boisterously, clasping them both on the shoulder and hustling them to the end of the pavilion. His hand left a strange cold feeling on their skin in place of the sensation of pressure, and Frank shivered. Will was too star-struck to notice. 

Shakespeare led the boys down the marble steps and away from the eerie green light of the building. 

"Now, my young lads, I have a message for thee from the dark prince of pessimism." He said, adjusting his red sequined peacoat, "He said unto me 'Make sure those two idiots get to the palace safely, William.' Exactly as thus. As such it is my solemn duty to inform thee that you are currently traveling along the wrong path."

"Just how off-course are we?" Frank groaned as Will hung his head.

Shakespeare grinned, his curly mustache nearly touching his nose. "Fear not my charges! You have merely been following the path of souls! Verily, it is the most oft-used path and therefore the widest and brightest, yet it leads to perdition or glory and not, as thou should seek, the palace of the king. What you see before thee..." he said as he gestured to the grey, dark fields before them, "... are the fields of Asphodel."

The ground was dotted with poplar trees that were bone-white and bare. Mist ebbed and flowed between the trunks, and the demigods could faintly hear the sound of wailing souls echoing through the branches.

"So that's what Nico listens to..." Will muttered, shrugging off the confused look Frank shot him. "So, how do we get to the palace?" 

"Look to thy left!" The poet responded.

To the left, far in the distance, was a faint silhouette of a tall Olympian building. Its black obsidian walls nearly blended in with the dark of the underworld, but the gilded towers glinted in the green glow of Greek fire. 

"Oh." Frank mused quietly, scanning the bleak landscape, "So I'm assuming we have to travel through the fields of Asphodel to get there?"

"Precisely young man!" The poet beamed. "Now, on thy way!"  
\----------

 

"Why what, young man?" Persephone asked quietly as Nico pulled his legs up onto the bench. The mix of condescension and concern in her voice was disconcerting. "You'll have to be more specific." 

Nico pressed the heel of his palm into his eye and rubbed, trying to orient himself with the present instead of the past. 

"You..." he began, swallowing down the crack in his voice. "You loved her... my mother... I don't understand." 

"It's very simple Nico," she began, "love does not need to be constrained between..."

"No not that." Nico shook his head, then stiffened. "My apologies for interrupting, my lady. I meant... that is to say..."

"Spit it out, boy."

Nico took a breath to steel his nerves. "When I first met you, that I can remember, you were... quite cruel. I don't understand. What I saw... my lady, what changed?"

Persephone adjusted her dress and sat up straighter. 

"That, my dear, is a much longer story." She said solemnly. Nico met her bright green gaze and saw a question there- _are you ready?_ the son of Hades nodded and reached to pull his jacket around his shoulders- but it wasn't there. 

"It begins with war, Nico." Persephone began, "There was fighting on Olympus and the mortal world alike. It ended with a truce between the three brother of Olympus, but this you know. It was what led to that truce that tore our little family apart.

"In the midst of the war, the gods came to a standstill. Mortals were dying and nothing was getting better. So my father, Zeus, in his _infinite wisdom,_ " she rolled her eyes, "decided to take a more direct approach."

"He sent demigods after one another." Nico said.

Persephone raised an eyebrow. "Yes, did you remember that as well?" 

Nico nodded, averting his eyes. "At Camp, I touched a sword of Ares. There was a man, he was trying to kill my sister and me. I think I was five..."

The goddess of spring hissed and clenched her fist. "Despicable, sending an assassin after a child..." she grit through her teeth before smoothing her rosy skirts and regaining her composure. 

"The gods started giving quests to demigods left and right, sending them to kill each other's children. It didn't take long for Olympus to decide that the root cause of the war was only the children of Zeus, Poseidon, and your father. They swore to never again dally with mortals and create demigods. Of course, with the opinions on Olympus being what they are, they all agreed on one more thing: the children of Hades had to die."

Nico blinked, trying to clear his vision. The world was spinning again, he could feel himself slipping, powerless to stay, when suddenly there was a pair of warm hands on his temples. It grounded him, keeping him in the moment. He looked up into the eyes of his stepmother and focused on that as images swirled in his brain- an old television set with a man on it, a red flag with a black symbol, his mother tugging him down an alleyway. It stayed a vision, something was preventing him from being drawn in. He clutched the wrist of the hand at his temple and breathed slowly until it passed. 

Nico swallowed. "Because of my brothers..." 

Persephone nodded. They both knew who Nico meant- the two sons of Hades that had ravaged Europe when Nico was just a small child. 

"Hades' sons were insane, and with the power they wielded, humanity suffered for it." Nico grimaced and fidgeted with his ring, trying to hide his hurt. Were all of Hades' sons insane? Did his father think he was crazy? Was this simply a fact of life for demigods? 

Was it true? 

Persephone noticed his discomfort and backpedalled.  
"But _you_ , Nico, you were innocent." She said placatingly. "And yet, as the youngest, they came for you and your sister first. Your father and I pleaded with Maria to come to the underworld. We could have kept you _safe._ No demigod would dare enter here to harm you." She let her hands fall, kneeling before the teen. "But Maria refused. She said she could never raise her children in such a place." Persephone sneered, as if the insult to her kingdom was still fresh and stinging. 

"Hades tried to get her to see reason, but your mother was stubborn. You know what happened next, Nico. Hades tried to get you to safety in the mortal world, and Zeus killed her. He would have killed you as well- a child, an innocent child.

"For years I was angry, Nico." She said as she rose to sit next to him on the bench. "Years. My love was dead, her beautiful children locked away in a hotel. I was angry at her- I blamed her for dying. But then your sister died, and she came to Hades and me. She mentioned, in passing, how much she had feared the dark and underground places, even as a child, and suddenly I understood. Maria never intended to insult me, she simply was protecting her daughter.

"It took a few years, even after that, for me to forgive her. Your father and I are alike in that regard. But now I realize there is only one piece of Maria left in this world, and it would be a shame if I abandoned him because of a misunderstanding."

She reached over, gently, and placed a hand on Nico's. He flinched, but forced himself to stay.

"I am not apologizing for my actions Nico, you understand. I am a goddess and need not explain myself to mortals." She stroked the back of his hand tenderly. "But if I were not a goddess, I would say 'I'm sorry, can we begin again?' But, of course, I'm not."

Nico smiled just a bit. "Of course, my lady. If you were mortal I would say 'yes', but of course you're not."

Persephone nodded. "Then we understand each other. Come, my son, let us go see your father." 

She smiled and stood, offering her hand for Nico to take. He did, and as he stood, hand-in-hand with his stepmother, he stopped shivering. Even without his jacket in the frigid cold of the underworld, he suddenly felt warm. 

\------------

Frank shivered as he walked between the poplar trees. The palace of Hades glowed in the distance, a faint marker of where to go. It was a good thing, too, because in Asphodel there were no paths to anywhere. 

There was just mist, trees, faint howling, and the oppressive bleariness that settled into his chest. Everything seemed more and more hopeless as he walked, even with their goal in his sights. 

He wondered if this was how Nico felt every day.

The only thing keeping Frank going was the knowledge that this would end as soon as he got to the other side, it wasn't permanent, he wasn't trapped here forever. That and a growing need to use the restroom.

Will walked beside him, his own sunny disposition dulled by the bleakness. Will passed him a granola bar.

"It's been a couple hours at least." He said, poking the Roman with the wrapped grains.

Frank took the snack and unwrapped it. "Are you sure it's okay to eat down here? I mean, all the legends say..."

"It's not _from_ the underworld, so we should be fine." Will replied, taking a bite of his own, "Besides, Nico packed them for us. He wouldn't have done that if it wasn't safe." 

Eyeing his granola warily, Frank took a bite. It tasted like ashes and sadness, but he supposed that was the effect of their surroundings and not, in fact, the food itself.

If this is what Asphodel was like for mortals, Frank could only imagine what Hazel had gone through for seventy some-odd years.

To think, she could have chosen Elysium, but chose to wander this desolate dreary place in order to save someone who had betrayed her from the fields of punishment, just because they were related. That girl was truly selfless. 

And loyal. 

He chewed his tasteless granola and swallowed.

Not for the first time, Frank considered how much he admired the daughter of Pluto.

She was willing to sacrifice herself and wander aimlessly through death for the good of someone who had wronged her.

He supposed he could sympathize- he had spent so much of his life wondering what his purpose would be, wondering what his life would amount to. If the gods had deemed his power too great to go unchecked and tied his life to a stick, what was he meant to do with that power? For so long he had felt useless, a waste of potential. It had taken a quest for Frank to really come into himself, 

Hazel had been given a second chance and she ran with it while he had still been on his first, walking. 

"You okay?" Will interrupted his thoughts. "You seem pretty down. This place getting to you?"

"Sort of," Frank frowned, "I was thinking about Hazel, how she was trapped here for seventy years until Nico pulled her out."

"Ah." Will nodded. "I haven't spoken to Hazel very much, but she seems to be a very capable young lady." 

"She's a badass." Frank grinned. 

Will chuckled in response. "Yeah I get that vibe. But from what Nico tells me, so are you."

Frank raised a black eyebrow in confusion. 

"He told me how you were willing to sacrifice your life to free Thanatos, even though he might have taken Hazel with him." Will took a bite of his granola. 

"He told you about my stick?" Frank asked, carefully keeping the alarm from his face as he reached for the inner pocket in his jacket. 

"... no?" Will said around a mouth full of granola. "Nothing about a stick."

Frank sighed in relief. Not that he had anything to worry about anymore- his stick was safely in the fireproof satchel Leo had given him, but old habits died hard. 

"Just about how brave you were, and your skill with archery and transformation." Will continued, turning his head to hide his sly smile. "Nico's pretty sure you're scared of him, though." 

Will took another bite.

"I was." Frank shrugged. "Hazel kept mentioning him, and then when Piper pulled him out of the jar... first impressions, you know?"

Will nodded. "I get it. A lot of people get that impression, I'm pretty sure Nico actively tries to project that aura. But Nico is a good person, underneath the image. I think he wants to show you that- why else would he ask you to come with us to meet his father?"

Frank crumpled up his granola wrapper and stuffed it into his pocket. "I know he's good. Nobody who risks their own life and the wrath of the gods to bring an innocent stranger out of the underworld could possibly be bad." He sighed, "I just need to get to know him better."

Will nodded, ducking under the branches of a low-hanging poplar to stay by Frank's side. "Speaking of gods, we're here."

Not fifty feet before them stood the obsidian walls of the Palace of Hades. Just a second ago it had seemed still miles away, yet now it emerged from the mist and fog like a phantom in the night. 

"Do you think maybe..." Frank trailed off, silently inferring that some magic had been keeping them from the palace until Hades was ready for them.

"Pretty sure, yeah." Will replied, adjusting the straps of his backpack and the slightly-too-small leather jacket on his shoulders. 

They shared a glance, and headed for the steps. A few minutes later, they were greeted by a pair of skeletons in various stages of decay who seemed to have been waiting for them.

Their jaws clicked indecipherably as they motioned for the mortals to follow. Their bony feet skittered on the smooth floor as they led them to the gilded black stone doors of the great hall. 

Without being touched, the doors opened and revealed a large throne made entirely of bones. Sitting upon it, clad in dark robes that shifted with screaming souls, was the Lord of the dead himself. 

He stared coldly at the two boys, the mortal intruders on his realm, as if he were already judging their fate. Then he glanced to his left.

From a doorway wafted the gentle scent of rose and pomegranate as Persephone entered the throne room, Nico by her side. Immediately Nico's eyes lit up in excitement and he started towards his friends, but stopped himself. He looked to the goddess of spring for permission, and she nodded.

As Persephone sat herself at Hades' right on a throne made of gemstone flowers- had that been there a minute ago?- Nico walked towards his two friends with the grace and dignity befitting a prince.

Nico gestured with a pointed look and the two demigods bowed, each taking a knee before the King and Queen of the Underworld. 

"William Solace, son of Apollo, and Frank Zhang, son of Mars," Nico said as he stepped beside them, "May I introduce to you my stepmother, the goddess Persephone, and my father, the Lord of the Underworld, the god Hades."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a big risk with this chapter, but it's honestly how I see the relationship between Nico's parents. I have lots of theories about this, and you're welcome to discuss them with me on my Tumblr: silverkleptofox:)


	8. Disappointment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico finds the answer to his question, but it's not the answer he's looking for.

The throneroom of the underworld was a sight to behold. On a dias sat a large chair made of human bones, and next to it one made of gilded branches and gemstone flowers. Between the thrones was a small table, about the size of a game board. The floor glittered in patterns of obsidian and gold-veined black marble, with matching columns holding up a sleek ceiling.

But by far, the most imposing thing in the room was the Lord of the Underworld himself.

Hades regarded the demigods with an unreadable look, staring them down while Frank and Will sweated and tried not to fidget. Nico's face was equally unreadable, even for Will.

Hades stood, brushing his close-cut suit of writhing souls. Then he nodded at his guests, and with a quick tilt of his head, motioned for Nico to follow, and walked down the right side corridor, his dress shoes clacking on the stone. 

Nico glanced at his friends briefly. Will shrugged out of his borrowed leather jacket and handed it to his boyfriend. Nico clutched it for a moment before shrugging into the warm material. Will grabbed his hand, and Nico squeezed it, briefly, before following in his father's footsteps.

The room was eerily quiet after the silent exchange between father and son, the stillness settled over them like death. Until, of course, the Queen stepped forward, her pale pink silk shuffling on the floor.

"Come, boys," She said sweetly, in a way that belied her power, "We have much to discuss." 

\---------

Nico followed his father through the dark corridors of the palace. He wasn't sure if his cabin reminded him of here, or if the palace reminded him of his cabin. One obviously drew inspiration from the other, but he wasn't sure which one he considered home.

Not anymore. 

He supposed that most people would be intimidated by his father's poise and silent demeanor- he certainly played up those aspects of his personality to strike fear into mortals- but in reality Nico knew his father was simply a quiet person, especially in front of strangers. Behind closed doors, with family, Hades held his stuff upper lip but was actually a bit of a sarcastic egghead. 

Nico wondered what Will and Frank thought of him. 

Hades slowed his pace and turned to the right, a sleek wooden door opening at his command. 

Nico followed him into the study. It was a small and cozy room, if you considered black marble, gilding, and chairs made from human femurs to be cozy. Still, Nico had discussed the business of the underworld with his father many times in this room. He was comfortable here, with the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle on the table between them and shelves of model trains on the wall. Nico sank into one of the bone-chairs, which was comfortably lined in blood red velvet, and let himself relax.

Hades chuckled lowly. "I am glad to see you, Nico. Though it is odd that you visit me in the wintertime, and with accompaniment. Why?"

Nico leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "It's... there are a couple things I want... need to ask you, and I wasn't allowed to leave Camp alone, not anymore."

Hades raised a questioning eyebrow, and Nico exhaled. "I've been remembering things- things from my childhood, before you... erased them with the Lethe. They come out of nowhere, and I lose control of myself. Chiron thought it was best if I don't go off alone until the problem is fixed."

"I see." Hades replied, pensive. "I had hoped this day would not come."

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

Hades snapped his fingers, and a zombie appeared at the door with a silver tray of tea and fixings. They set it down next to Hades and shuffled out quietly. The Lord of the Underworld picked up a silver spoon and dolloped honey into two cups before pouring tea over it. He handed one cup to his son. 

"When I brought you and your mother and sister to America, I had every intention of keeping all three of you in the Lotus Hotel until the war had ended, but my brother had other plans. I feared for your sanity after witnessing that. So I bathed you both in the waters of the Lethe and hid you in the Lotus.

"After the war, my brothers and I made a pact to father no more children. I was caught between risking your death should you be discovered, or letting you remain, unchanging, in that place. You know my decision."

Nico nodded, holding his tea. Hades continued. 

"If you had stayed there, in the hotel, never aging, the Lethe's effects would have continued. But after it was revealed that my brother had broken their vow and the prophecy was about to be fulfilled..."

"You wanted your own pawns in the game." Nico finished.

"Yes." Hades said, sipping his tea. They both knew his original motivations for pulling Nico from safety four years ago, they didn't need to dredge up buried hurts. "Unfortunately, my son," he continued, "I fear what you seek may be impossible."

Nico clenched the handle of his teacup. "But you're the master of this realm! Surely you know a way to reverse the effects of the Lethe?"

"It is not so simple." Hades shook his head. "There is a way to reverse the Lethe, yes. The waters of the pool of Mnemosyne would restore your memories, but it would happen all at once. The shock of it to a corporeal form would drive you madder. You would not survive. Additionally, you could bathe in the Lethe once more, but it would erase every memory until that moment. There is no easy cure, Nico, I'm sorry. I did this to you for your own good, at the time, and now I cannot fix what ails you." 

Nico sat there silently, fiddling with the rim of the silver cup, considering this information. There was something bugging him about what Hades had said, but he couldn't quite place it. Maybe he _was_ going crazy. 

Wait...

"Do you really think I'm insane?" Nico asked, looking up from his cup and into his father's jet-black eyes.

Hades stared back, only slightly perturbed. 

"I remembered, back at camp, something you said when I was young. You said...that one day, I might be insane, that most of your children are. You said you dunked me in the Lethe because you feared for my sanity... do you..." his voice broke, "...do you really think I'm crazy?" 

Hades exhaled deeply and shifted in his chair. He raised his palm and curled his fingers upward. Nico obliged, setting his cup on the table, and rose to stand before his father.

"My son," Hades said, taking Nico's hand in his cold one and thumbing the silver skull ring that rested there. "You are a child of Hades. You will _never_ be normal. But that does not make you crazy." 

Nico's fingers clenched. Hades was not usually a physically affectionate person, but it wasn't the first time he had used it to make a point. 

"Ever since you were born, you've been... odd." Hades continued. "It was as if you were in your own world, when you were young. You never played with other children, or laughed at mortal humor. You are still odd, my son, I suspect you know this."

Nico nodded, doing his best to keep still. He wanted to fiddle with the ring on his finger, but it was trapped by his father's frigid fingers. 

"But Nico, you are not _crazy_. I'm not certain what the present term for it is, but it is not _insane_. You have fared much better than your previous siblings, you and your sister both."

"So these memories, I'm not just going crazy?" Nico asked quietly. 

"I am not the god of madness, Nico," Hades chuckled lowly, "but no, I do not think so. Merely mortal." 

The relief Nico felt was so strong that his knees went weak. He shuffled backwards to his chair and sunk down into it, picking the silver cup up from the table. 

"However..." Hades said as Nico sipped his cooling tea, "if you taste the waters of the Mnemosyne in your mortal state, you _will_ lose your mind."

Nico swallowed hard, hiding his cough in his cup. He sipped again to soothe the irritation. 

"And the only other option is losing all my memories?" He asked.

"If you wish the memories to stop, yes." Hades confirmed, "Those are your only two options." 

"I see." Nico replied, echoing his father's earlier words. It was not the answer he had been hoping for- not in the slightest. Was his independence worth losing all his memories? There were things he could stand to forget- Bianca's death, how Percy betrayed him, Tartarus... but he would also lose his memories of Hazel, and Jason, and... 

...and Will.

"Take whatever time you need." His father's voice interrupted his thoughts as the Lord of the Underworld stood. "I believe I have future sons-in-law to terrify."

\-------

 

Persephone tore into a roasted leg of lamb at the head of the long mahogany table to which she had led led Frank and Will. The boys, having declined to be served food from the Underworld, awkwardly munched on granola bars from Will's backpack. 

Persephone patted her lips with a silk napkin.  
"So what exactly _are_ your intentions with my children, mortals?" She said with false nonchalance as she folded the napkin over her plate. 

"Ch...children?" Frank stuttered in confusion. 

"Yes." Persephone said without looking up. " _My_ children. The children of my husband, to whom I am happily married." 

Frank's lips formed an "o" as he was elbowed in the side by Will.

"We intend nothing but their happiness and well-being." Will replied with a practiced smile.

Persephone regarded the Demigods with a raised eyebrow. 

"Stop terrorizing our guests, darling," Came Hades' voice from the archway behind them as he strolled in silently, imposing as ever. "That's my job." 

Frank and Will scurried to their feet, chair legs scraping against the marble. 

Hades chuckled low in his throat, "Be still, mortals," he waved his hand, "I jest- we have been keeping an eye on you in the mortal world. You have already gained our favor in your treatment of our children." 

Frank visibly exhaled, his broad shoulders relaxing in relief. Will did not.

"Where is Nico?" He blurted, then added "... my lord." 

Hades strolled forward and took his seat at the head of the table. "He'll be along when he is ready." He smoothed his lapels and placed a silk napkin on his lap as the bone-butler popped out of the shadows with a plate of roast lamb. "Care for dinner?"

"No thank you, Lord Hades." Frank replied as he and Will sat once more. 

"I already tried that." Persephone said, hiding her smirk in a goblet of wine.

"I see." Hades said as he dug into the roast with a knife. "I suppose I'll have to wait until your deaths to keep you forever, then. What a shame." 

Frank gulped and turned to Will, his eyes quietly frantic. Will flattened his lips and rolled his own eyes away dramatically. Hades chuckled, a sound like stones rolling down an endless chasm. 

"Solace, son of Apollo," he said, "I have been watching you. When my son was closest to coming here permanently, you held him back. He can be very stubborn, as I'm sure you understand. Yet, under your care, I have seen a side of him flourish that I thought I had lost seventy-five years ago. I trust you will continue in your endeavors both in keeping him from returning here prematurely, and protecting his somewhat fragile sanity. As such, you have my blessing, and a room here prepared should you ever need it." 

Will swallowed dryly, lamenting the lack of something to wet his throat with. He wished he had thought to bring a bottle of water. "Thank you, Lord Hades. I will do my best to keep Nico both safe and happy." 

Hades nodded, and chewed on some lamb fat.

"Zhang, son of Mars."

"Yes, sir?" Frank replied out of habit, "I mean, my Lord?"

Hades smirked thinly. "My daughter Hazel died over eighty years ago. _If_ she were alive today, and _if_ she had a romantic interest in another Demigod, I would like for her interests to be focused on someone as kind and peaceful as yourself. Your legacy belies your true nature, Zhang. But I digress. If my poor deceased daughter were alive today, and say, only thirteen years of age, I would expect you to wait until her.... whatvis tye law in the mortal world now, dearest?" "Eighteen" Persephone said. "Ah yes. Her eighteenth birthday to pursue anything more with my her, as I'm sure you understand."

Frank nodded. "Of course my Lord. _If_ someone such as Hazel, may she Rest In Peace, was alive today, I would wait until she was of age to progress in my feelings for her, and be her dearest friend and confidant in the meantime."

Hades sipped his goblet. "Then we have an understanding." He said with a smirk. Frank caught his double meaning and nodded stoically in response. 

"Darling," Hades said, "Do you have anything to add?" 

"Only that these lovely gentleman are welcome in our home anytime, should they follow the proper protocols in entering." She said with a wry smile. 

"Of course." Hades replied, "I'm sure these boys realize that the only one permitted to travel straight to my halls is Nico."

"Speaking of Nico..." Will began. 

"I'm right here, Solace." Nico said petulantly as he stepped out from his father's shadow. Frank jumped just a bit. Did everyone in the Underworld stand silently in shadows waiting for the right moment to startle people? Even Hazel did it sometimes! 

Will hadn't been startled in the slightest- he had broken out into a smile as soon as he saw his boyfriend. He pushed away his chair and walked quickly to him, heedless of how disrespectful it might seem to approach the Lord of the Underworld in such a manner. His only focus was Nico, and making sure he was okay. 

Hades could sense this, and instead of smiting Will for his impropriety, smiled.

Will saw none of this as he put his hands on Nico's tense shoulders and looked him over. 

Nico refused to meet his eyes- a worrying sign. Something was bothering him, and he knew Nico wouldn't want to talk about it with others around. He could sense that something was wrong, and slid his hand from Nico's shoulders to his forearms. 

"Let's go." Nico whispered to him. Will nodded and they made their way to Frank.

"Leaving so soon?" Persephone said coldly, just to make the boys jump, before breaking into a small smile. "Send your sister my regards, and my love, Nico."

Nico nodded and linked hands with his boyfriend and Frank. He called the shadows to surround them. 

"Nico," Hades called. The son of Hades looked to his father through the haze of darkness, "I'm sorry." 

They slipped into the ether.

\-------------

Nico pulled Will and Frank out of the darkness and into the cold snow of the training field of New Rome. Will tumbled face-first into the snow while Frank executed a dive-roll into a snowdrift. Nico shook his head as the boys brushed snow from their clothes.

"I'm really glad you got us out of there the short way." Will commented as he shook out his hair. "We didn't have any drachmas left to pay Charon twice."

Nico crossed his arms. "I have you ten drachmas- you let him swindle you for all of it? For a one-way trip for two?"

Frank blushed. "He was very convincing." 

Nico rubbed his temples with his left hand before turning and walking away. 

"Where are you off to?" Will asked.

Nico stopped and turned. "I... I have some things to think about. I'll be back later." Then he continued walking. Frank got to his feet to chase after the son of Hades, but Will caught his wrist and simply shook his head. Frank deflated. 

"You hungry?" Will asked, nodding his head toward the city.

Frank looked over to Nico's retreating back. "Starving." He answered. "Come on, let me show you the _other_ praetor's villa. 

\-------

They arrived at Frank's home in no time, and though it confused Will, the Roman seemed unfazed at his unlocked front door. They walked into the kitchen intending on whipping up some sandwiches when lo and behold, at the kitchen table eating a plate of veggies was none other than Hazel Levesque. 

"You're back!" She exclaimed when she saw them, quickly putting down her fork and rushing to hug Frank. He patted her on her wild curly hair with a smile before she moved on to embrace Will, a little less emphatically.

"How was it? How is Pluto? Is everything ok? Where's my brother?" She asked rapid-fire, her eyes on the door.

"Slow down, Levesque." Frank chuckled. "Pluto is fine, he sends his regards. As does Prosperina. As for how everything went..."

Frank and Will regaled Hazel with their adventure in the Underworld while they ate grilled cheese: being separated from Nico, to finding the clue with Cerberus, to William Shakespeare guiding them to the fields of Asphodel.

"I can't believe you spent so long in that place, by yourself." Frank said softly.

"It's over now." Hazel shrugged. "Nico pulled me out of there- and besides, Asphodel is nothing compared to..." she paused, unable to say the word, "...what he's been through." 

Frank nodded solemnly while Will merry tilted his head. What had Nico been through that was worse than death itself? Did she mean World War I? He would have to ask about it later. 

"Where is he?" Hazel continued. "Shouldn't he be back by now?"

Will flattened his lips. "He said he needed time to think." 

Hazel stood, putting her plate in the sink with the clear intention of finding Nico.

"Hazel..." Will cautioned, "... he wants to be alone."

She daughter of Pluto fixed him with her fiery golden eyes and replied, "I'm his sister."  
\-------------

"Hey." 

Nico looked up from his spot sitting in the corner of Pluto's temple when he heard Hazel's voice. She stood in the archway of the entrance, the sun behind her making her cinnamon-colored hair glow. 

"I thought you might be here," she said as she sat down cross-legged in front of Nico and handed him a bag of vinegar chips, "The others are worried about you. Your boyfriend wanted to let you pout but I know better."

Nico tore open the bag of chips. "How did you know I like vinegar chips?" 

Hazel looked at him flatly. "You're a strange person, Nico. Strange people like strange flavors. I guessed." She shrugged, "Plus vinegar hasn't changed much in seventy years." 

Nico nodded obligingly and shoveled a handful into his mouth, effectively cutting off the conversation. 

"So..?" Hazel prodded. 

"So... what?" Nico said with his mouth full. 

"How did it go?" She asked, "How's Pluto, was Prosperina cruel to you, did you get your answer?"

Nico swallowed his mouthful and licked his lips. "Persephone separated us almost as soon as we got there. She said Frank and Will had to find their way on their own. Really she just wanted to talk to me."

Hazel raised a questioning eyebrow.

"She wanted to... um... apologize, for how she had treated me in the past. She told me a lot about my mom, and I remembered things."

"You had a flashback in front of Prosperina?"

"Yes..." Nico replied, "but it was different, she was there with me in the memory, explaining things as they happened. I guess because she's a goddess? Anyway, she had a message for you too, she said she sends her love."

"What would Prosperina want with me?" Hazel balked.

"That's what I thought too. But it turns out dad never cheated on her with my mother, Persephone knew about it and loved her too. So she doesn't consider herself to be my step-mother. Just... my mom, I guess." 

"Wow."

"Yeah." 

They sat in silence for a bit, watching the setting sun as Nico munched on chips. 

"Do you think she wants to mend up with me, too?" 

"Yeah, I think she does. Once, you know..." 

Hazel chuckled. "Once I die, again." 

Nico finished off his bag of chips while Hazel waited for him to be ready to talk. She knew that pressing him would never work, but he would say what was on his mind eventually. After a few minutes of silence as the sun set, he cracked.

"He told me there's nothing he can do." He said quietly.

"Nothing at all?" She said. 

"Well, not that precisely." Nico fidgeted with his ring, his hands in his lap. "This whole... _thing_ is being caused by the Lethe, just like we thought. But there's no way to safely get rid of the flashbacks. Either I dunk myself in the Lethe again and forget everything up to now, or find something called Mnemosyne and remember everything at once and most likely go mad." 

Hazel placed a warm hand on her brother's knee, gently stroking her thumb. 

"At least you know for sure it's the Lethe causing this, and you're not already mad, right?"

"That's the thing, with Hades' children. We're all a little mad, apparently. It's just how much that differs" Nico huffed in frustration, "I don't want these memories to keep me from living my life, but I also don't want to forget everything. I just want to know my past like a normal person, and not have to be chaperoned every minute of my life in case I suddenly can't function because I saw a particular piece of bread or something equally ridiculous. I'm not _weak_ , Hazel."

"No, of course not." She said calmly, "you're one of the strongest people I know, Nico, and I'm so proud that you're my brother."

"I can't live like this." Nico sighed shakily, "This has to stop one way or another. But which do I choose? Starting over completely, or losing my mind? It's not really a choice- there's no way I'm going to _willingly_ go crazy. Too many people would suffer, our older brothers showed us that."

Hazel winced at that, knowing what Nico meant. 

"...But I can't bear the thought of losing everything again. Forgetting you, and Jason, and Reyna and Will... I can't do that again, no matter how much I would like to forget some... _other_ things. But what choice do I have when the alternative is madness?"

"Maybe you don't have to choose between forgetting everything or going mad." Hazel suggested. 

Nico raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"If there's one thing I've learned from following Hecate, it's that there's always another option." Hazel smiled. "It's called the threefold path for a reason." 

"Maybe." Nico said quietly, "...maybe." 

"Come on, I bet your boyfriend is moping as much as you were." 

Nico sighed with mock exasperation as he took his sister's hand and stood. They stepped out into the cool California night air and headed back to their favorite people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the climax of this story, please stay tuned for the rest!
> 
> As always, you can contact me here in the comments or on tumblr at Silverkleptofox.


	9. The Long Road Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of plot development in this one, arc 3 is almost here!
> 
> Special thanks to Hogwartsexprss on tumblr for specific monster idea

Chapter 9 text 

Nico wanted to leave for Camp as soon as he and Hazel got back, but Hazel insisted that he stay for dinner. Nico could never say no to his little sister, especially when his boyfriend was giving him a look that said " _If you don't eat something willingly I will force feed you and it will be embarrassing._ " 

So they left _after_ dinner. Will took Nico's hand and they shadow-traveled back to Camp Half-Blood.

At least, that was the plan.

When Will felt the warm wind of the surface world and opened his eyes, the tall pine of Thalia's tree was not the sight that greeted him. Instead, the rustling grass of an overgrown field and the sound of crickets accosted his ears as he supported his suddenly wobbly boyfriend. 

"Easy..." Will said gently as he wrapped a hand around Nico's waist and sensed his status. "You alright?" 

Nico nodded. "Just a bit winded, I guess I was more tired than I thought." 

"Well, you did travel three people out of the underworld after who knows what else you did while we were separated... I should have made you stay in New Rome tonight..." Will trailed off, cursing himself.

Nico huffed. "You know you can't stop me doing what I want, Solace."

"I can try." Will smiled in return. "Where are we, anyway?"

Nico brushed Will's hands off his waist and looked around. "Oklahoma, maybe? Either way we should find someplace safe, I don't do well in fields." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the stars.

They were beautiful, this far out in the middle of nowhere. The Milky Way was completely visible, all the constellations and little stars that were obscured by the city lights were laid bare. 

Will looked at Nico fondly. The way the moonlight reflected off his dark hair made it look as if he was wearing a circlet of silver, a thought he would never share with the son of Hades. He looked to the sky and said a silent prayer of thanks to his aunt for lighting the way. 

"That way is north." Nico said, breaking his thoughts. "All roads in Oklahoma lead to the center, so if we head East we'll hit a road eventually, and once we hit a road we can hitch a ride." 

"Hitch a ride?" Will raised his eyebrow. "In the middle of nowhere at..." he looked at his watch, "... two in the morning?"

Nico shrugged, "I know a guy, but he'll kill me if I call him off-road, he's very protective of his vehicles." 

Will stared at his boyfriend, torn between wanting to ask more and silent wonderment of how much his boyfriend kept surprising him. 

"East it is." He shrugged. Nico looked exhausted, but he knew pressing him about how tired he was would just make the son of Hades fight harder to stay awake out of spite. He would just have to be there to catch him when Nico inevitably fell. 

"You seemed pretty upset back in your father's palace." Will began as they walked beneath the stars, saying a quick prayer that Nico wouldn't continue to push him away. He twisted his lip and kicked a stray stone in the grass. "I assume you didn't get the answer you wanted?" 

Nico took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Hades confirmed what we thought- the effects of the Lethe are wearing off and my memories are returning."

Will looked up, "That's good, right? If we know the cause, we can..."

"There's no hope." Nico interrupted. "It can't be fixed. Hades said I have only two choices: lose all my memories again, or get them all back at once and go insane. There's no way to just make them stop." 

Will frowned, "I'm so sorry, Nico. Is there really no other choice?"

"No." He shook his head, "I couldn't bring myself to talk about it in front of the others- you and Frank worked so hard for... for nothing. Hazel seems to think there's a third option, but I don't know what it could possibly be. It's either the Lethe or the Mnemosyne." 

"You mean the goddess?" Will asked, his tone confused.

"No, there's a pool called the Mnemosyne..." Nico replied, equally confused, "...what do you mean, the goddess?"

"Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory, well, technically she's a Titan, but details... she's the mother of the nine muses."

Nico stopped in his tracks. "You mean to tell me there's a goddess of memory and you didn't tell me?" He said.

Will shrugged. "I thought you knew?" 

Nico couldn't respond to that- he had an embarrassingly vast knowledge of Greek mythology due to his obsession with mythomagic. Of course Will assumed he knew.

"Do you think she could fix this?" Nico asked, "Maybe this is what Hazel meant- the third option..."

"Nico..." Will began cautiously, "... I don't think that's a good idea. No one has seen Mnemosyne in... well, a long time. There might not be a cure."

"Are you saying I should just accept this? Learn to live with it?"

"I mean... that's not entirely out of the question, but I meant that Mnemosyne is a Titan. Demigods and Titans generally don't..." 

_"Demigods...."_ A low hiss from behind them interrupted. The wind stopped.

"What was that?" Will shivered. 

Nico grabbed his black sword and unsheathed it from its holster. His adrenaline racing, he instinctively stepped in front of Will, his arm out to protect the blonde, but instead of staying back, Will turned to cover Nico.

 _"Out here all alone, weakened...."_ the voice hissed around them. 

The long, tall grass rustled around them, despite the lack of wind. A shudder went down Nico's spine.

Will saw something shiny reflected in the moonlight, but it was blurry and not quite formed. He squinted, trying to make out what it was.

 _"What ailment shall we give these children to make them tasty?"_ Another voice said. 

That sparked something in Will's memory, but he wasn't quite sure what it was yet. Blurry, silvery, ailment... aha! 

"Nico! Get back!" He shouted as he turned to grab his boyfriend, but it was too late. In that exact moment, Nico had seen one of the spirits and had lunged forward with his sword to stab it right through the middle. The blade did nothing, and Nico froze for a moment in surprise. The blob seemed to look at the sword, then at Nico, before inching its way up the blade toward Nico's hand.

Will cursed, "Schist!", and turned toward Nico and away from the spirit in front of him. He ran forward, rummaging through his backpack for something, anything that might work. 

Nico tried to jump back, but he faltered and stumbled to the ground. The spirit enveloped Nico in its silvery blob-ness, and Nico sunk to his knees in the dirt, wracked with chills. 

Will's hand closed around his weapon of choice- a small bottle of extra-strength hand sanitizer, which he yanked out to spray the gel in the creature's blobby face. 

Instantly, the thing recoiled and backed away. The one that had been behind Will floated backwards to keep its distance. 

"Nnnghh...." Nico groaned, climbing back to his feet and grasping his sword with shaking hands. "What the hell was that?"

"Nosoi." Will replied, "Plague spirits- they've been around a lot more often since dad... y'know. They've been irrelevant as long as dad has been god of the plague, but they're back now." 

Nico shivered. "How do we kill them?"

"We can't." Will replied, shuffling through his backpack. "Weapons don't work on illness. We can just keep them away, manage how much they affect us- they shouldn't bother us as long as we have this." He held up his bottle of sanitizer. 

"Hand sanitizer? Really?" Nico asked, incredulous, "Stygian Iron won't kill this but their weakness is hand sanitizer?" He rolled his eyes and backed up against Will, leaning on his strong back just a bit. "There's nothing that can escape death, not even these. We just have to find a way to kill them. Why does the hand sanitizer work?"

"Well it has to do with bacteria and how they grow..." Will began, until Nico shot him a look that clearly said _Get to the point._ "Right. They're plague spirits. Plague can be prevented by hand-washing, since it's caused by bacteria. So they stay away from it."

"Okay." Nico said, stepping behind Will as the blond sprayed another burst of sanitizer to keep the spirits back. "What happens if it touches them?"

"I don't know," Will confessed, "I've never encountered a Nosos before."

Nico huffed. He was frustrated, exhausted, and now he was dizzy and nauseated with the beginnings of a major headache forming behind his temples. He couldn't think straight. He wanted nothing more than to yell at his boyfriend and go to sleep, but he couldn't blame Will and sleep was not an option at the moment, only action. 

Nico grabbed Will's bottle of sanitizer and squirted it along the blade of his weapon. He tossed the bottle back to Will and lunged forward, blade swinging. 

The Nosos dodged as the other one went for his back. Will covered Nico with liquid sanitation as he sliced downwards, right through the Nosos' wispy form. The monster screeched and railed backwards, slowly dissolving from the center of the cut outwards, until only a small, silvery wisp of Nosos remained squealing in the dust. Nico grabbed Will and pivoted against his back so he was facing the other spirit, but after seeing the fate of its brother, it dashed away into the night. 

Will and Nico turned to the remains of the first spirit, inching away through the grass. Nico raised his sword and stabbed it through the middle. It squealed again, and shrunk to the size of a bottle cap, but did not die. He lifted his blade to smash the monster to pieces, but Will stopped him.

"You can't kill it, Nico, that's not how disease works. We should focus on getting to safety, you're not looking too good. You don't have to do everything yourself..."

 _Do everything yourself..._

The words echoed on his mind as the world started to shift again. 

_No, not here... I have to fight!_ he cried out in his mind as he panted and lowered his weapon, his hands shaking, but it was in vain. Nico's body slipped to its knees as his mind slipped away.

\--------

"You're going to have to learn to do everything yourself!" 

It was Bianca, and she was yelling at him.

He was sitting on the floor, surrounded by the shards of a dish that he had broken we he had pulled it off the counter, and holding his leg where a piece of china had sliced his shin. 

"I... I just wanted..." he stuttered, trying to explain himself. 

Bianca rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, little brother. I can't be here to take care of you forever! You're almost ten! You're nearly a man now, and you can't cling to Mamá and me forever!" She pulled him to his feet marched him to little chair in the corner. She pushed him to sit and said "Stay here" before walking out of the kitchen. She returned a moment later with gauze, tape, and alcohol, an knelt to roll up the linen of Nico's trouser leg. 

"I... I was hungry, and I didn't want to bother you, so I tried to..." Nico sniffed as Bianca dabbed at the cut with alcohol. It stung horribly, bringing tears to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

"Nico..." Bianca sighed. "You have to be careful. Why didn't you use the step stool? You have to think things through so you don't get hurt. What's going to happen if you're out alone and something comes for you?"

"Like the big dog Mamá saved us from?" 

"Exactly!" Bianca tied off the bandage and rolled down his trousers. "What if you're out alone and another big black dog comes for you? Mamá and I won't always be there to protect you. You have to learn to take care of yourself, brother. People like us, we can't rely on anyone else. You have to think for yourself. Do you understand?"

Nico nodded solemnly. No one was going to help him.

He had to take care of himself. 

\---------

Suddenly there was a cool hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. Nico shuddered and tried to focus on the blue eyes looming over him in the dark of the early morning.

"You're back!" Will exclaimed as Nico's eyes regained clarity. Nico jumped up and scrambled to his feet, hand reaching for his sword.

"Hey, calm down." Will soothed. "The Nosoi are gone, they ran off five minutes ago."

"Five minutes?" Nick murmured. "I was out for five minutes on a battlefield? This is exactly why I want these flashbacks _gone_..." he felt his teeth. "What if you got hurt? And I wasn't there to defend you? If I couldn't..." He faltered and stumbled to the ground. 

"Calm down. Everything is okay. How do you feel?" Will interrupted, breaking his chain of thought. There were hands on his shoulders, warm as gentle. 

Nico took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. What if he had a flashback before a battle was over? The possibility was unacceptable, but he couldn't dwell on what hadn't happened, he could only let it fuel him. He had to find a way to stop this before anyone else got hurt. He shrugged Will's hands off his shoulders and answered: "Dizzy, nauseated, headache..." 

"Uh huh." Will nodded, concerned about Nico's change in attitude. "You just had another flashback." He said, pointing out the obvious. "Want to talk about it?"

"Just something my sister once said." Nico murmured. 

"Hazel?"

"Bianca." 

Will nodded and wisely dropped the subject. "Well, you have a fever and chills, too. Looks like the Nosoi just hit you with a head cold, but it could still be influenza. We need medicine and fluids ASAP."

"I know that, I'm not an idiot..." Nico murmured. "There aren't any roads for miles, just dirt...Jules-Albert is going to hate me..." he said softly as he dug out an old black cell phone and shot off a quick text. It was the phone Hades had given him for work and emergencies, with only three contacts in it. 

Before Nico could get the phone back into his innermost pocket, a low rumble caught their ear. A sleek black Rolls Royce galumphed over the dirt and grass towards them from the west. The driver door opened with a roll of fog and out stepped a very disgruntled zombie in a chauffeur's cap.

"Que fais-tu! Comment oses-tu m'appeler hors de la route! Voit! Ma voiture est sale! Petit connard!" The zombie spat with his half-formed tongue, kicking the dirt angrily. 

"Désolée," Nico replied, "C'etait une urgence. S'il vous plait t'emmène chez moi."

Jules-Albert looked the boys up and down and sneered. 

"Rentre la voiture." He said, opening the back door, "Tu ressemble de la merde."

They climbed into the car and buckled themselves in, and Jules-Albert revved the engine.

\--------

"Ugh." Nico moaned as he curled up in the back seat of the Rolls Royce, "Why did it have to be Nosoi? It could have been _anything_ else and I would have killed it. Why plague spirits?"

"Probably because you're a son of Hades, so you attract monsters, and I'm a son of Apollo, and the gods love irony." Will shrugged, "Also it's the middle of flu season, they're stronger now. You know you'd be more comfortable if you laid down." He patted his lap invitingly.

Nico glared flatly at the blond, but with his red-ringed eyes and snotty nose it wasn't very effective. 

Will had forced him to drink a bottle of water and take some Tylenol as soon as the car was moving, despite Jules-Albert's angry chattering about drinking in his car. Will didn't speak French and Jules-Albert refused to speak English, so Nico simply forgot to translate and avoided the argument. The last thing he wanted was his medic boyfriend arguing with his zombie chauffeur. His head was pounding too much for that.

"Sleep, Nico." Will said when he realized his boyfriend was just going to be stubborn and not take his advice. Nico shivered in response and pulled his leather jacket up like a blanket.

"Easy for you to say." Nico mumbled half-heartedly. The Tylenol wasn't doing much to relieve the fever or aches, but it was all they had at the moment. Ambrosia was ineffective on Nico and Will didn't exactly bring NyQuil for a quick trip to the Underworld. 

Will was slightly worried as he sat across from the shivering teen. Usually the kid had no trouble sleeping, in fact he slept too much. Will suspected depression was the cause of that but he wasn't a psychologist. After shadow-traveling this far, a fight with monsters, and summoning a zombie and a car, he should have passed right out even without getting sick. 

"Just close your eyes and rest then, okay? It's better than nothing." Will coaxed. Exhausted, Nico did as he suggested. His face relaxed into a sort of meditation, and they drove on silently through the night.

\-------

They pulled up to state road 3.14 at about noon the next day, which had Will very confused. They had made only one pit stop for restrooms and pop tarts, but the journey should have taken them at least 22 hours from Oklahoma to Long Island Sound.

Instead it had been ten. 

After double-checking his watch, Will looked at their driver in shock. Jules-Albert simply smiled wryly back at him from the rear view mirror. At least, Will assumed it was a wry smile- the lack of facial tissue made discerning difficult.

Nico stirred from where he was curled up on the seat and jostled himself into sitting up.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Will said sarcastically as he felt Nico's forehead again.

Nico smacked his hand away softly and rolled his eyes. "How long until we're home?" He smacked his lips. 

"About ten minutes." Will cracked open a Gatorade- purchased at the same rest stop as the pop tarts- and handed it over. "And you're headed straight to bed."

"I'm fine." Nico said between sips of Gatorade, ignoring Will's disbelieving look. "Chiron will want to talk to us, anyway." He said with a smirk, knowing he was right. Chiron wouldn't let them go without a debrief from a quest, even such a minor one.

"You're right, you don't have to go straight to your cabin." Will said with a dramatic sigh of defeat. "You can go straight to the infirmary instead. I'll debrief Chiron. Don't worry about him calling for you- I'll give you a doctor's note." He beamed, watching Nico go from smug to slumped in a matter of seconds. 

Nico knew when he was defeated.

The car pulled up to the top of the hill, and the boys could hear the goat-horn sounding to announce visitors. The campers on patrol duty scurried to watch as the door of the black Rolls Royce opened and out stepped Jules-Albert in all his cranky, undead glory. 

Will waved off the curious questions as he escorted Nico to his cabin. He got the son of Hades settled with some blankets and NyQuil and headed to the Big House to talk to Chiron. 

\--------

"Will Solace, it is good to see you back." Chiron said as Will walked up the porch. "I see Mr. di Angelo is not with you. I trust your excursion went well?"

"Not exactly," Will sat on a rocking chair next to Chiron's wheelchair, "Nico's sick in his cabin at the moment, and we didn't exactly find a cure."

"I see." Chiron replied, stroking his beard solemnly. "Well then, do tell me what happened. You had a successful rendezvous with Mr. Zhang, yes?"

"Yes, and we made it to the Underworld safely. Once there, we were separated. Frank and I had to follow the path of souls while Nico went straight to the palace. We um... had a couple setbacks on that route..."

Chiron chuckled, "As all quests do."

"I suppose." Will continued, "We met back up at the palace, but only for a moment. Nico went to go talk to Lord Hades while Lady Persephone... well..."

"Made you feel incredibly awkward for her own amusement?" 

Will nodded, wondering how often Persephone toyed with her guests if Chiron had known so easily. "Nico came back upset, and insisted we leave immediately. When we got back topside, he ran off to think for a while. Hazel dragged him back, but he didn't say much about his conversation with his father. What I do know is that Lord Hades didn't have a cure for him- well, at least not one he wanted."

Chiron frowned and smoothed the blankets on his lap. "Are his memories not being caused by the Lethe?"

"No no, that's definitely it." Will leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees and placed his chin on his fingers, "It's just that there's no stopping it, apparently. There's no way to make the memories stop without losing all of them, and no way to get them all back safely. He says it's the Lethe or the Mnemosyne." Will sighed. 

"He may just have to accept his new limitations, Doctor Solace." Chiron said sagely. 

Will shook his head. "He won't. On the way back, we were attacked by a couple of Nosoi- they got to Nico but not to me-that's how he caught the cold- but he had a flashback right after the battle. He's convinced he's going to have another flashback during a battle and hurt someone."

"The solution to that is simply not to do battle alone." Chiron replied quietly.

"I _know_." Will dropped his forehead into his hands. "But he won't accept that. For some reason, he has it stuck in his head that he has to do everything himself. I'm doing my best to convince him otherwise but he won't listen. He's stubborn that way."

"Some people need to be shown, not told, Will. Nico is... a special case. His ways of thinking are not like yours, they are much older." 

"Yeah, I know." Will sighed. "He's got it in his head that he wants to search for Mnemosyne..."

"The Titan?" Chiron asked.

"The Titan." Will confirmed. "He thinks she can do something about his flashbacks since she's the goddess of memory, but..."

"Then let him go." Chiron interrupted.

Will gave him a questioning look. They both knew that Mnemosyne hadn't been seen in years, it was practically a fool's errand. Chiron closed his eyes and smiled.

"William, Nico will not let this rest unless he has exhausted all of his options, he has always been ambitious that way. So let him try. And if you can somehow discover where she may be, go with him, and take a third Demigod with you."

Will sat up straighter. "You really think this is a good idea?" He asked.

"Searching for a Titan? No." Chiron smiled, "But allowing Nico to work through his grief in the only way he knows how, while being supervised by a trusted doctor? Yes, I think that is a very good idea indeed." 

Chiron wheeled himself down the ramp and out towards the pavilion for lunch, leaving Will with his thoughts. 

He had some research to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not clean a wound with alcohol. A twelve year old would not know this in the 40's but we know now. 
> 
> In the next chapter: lots of reasearch and Will and Nico discover what Hamilton is.


	10. Poetry

Ch 10

Nico's head was pounding as he lay curled up in his bed in the Hades cabin. The dark decor made it an excellent spot to wait out a headache- especially the ones he got when it stormed outside. It had taken him a long time to convince Will not to drag him to the bright, loud, sterile infirmary every time his head hurt. Nico was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and his cabin was a better place for it anyway. 

Now if only he could figure out a way to take care of these memories popping up, everything would be fine. 

If only. 

_Tap tap tap_

Nico figured that was probably Will, coming to fuss over him unnecessarily. He groaned as he flopped over and slid to the floor, wiping at his stuffy nose.

"Solace I told you I'm fine!" He said loudly as he walked to the door, reaching to open it, "I can take care of myself... what's that?"

In the doorway was Will, holding a ratty looking old book, a legal pad, and some sort of strange drink with what looked like oversized caviar and a thick straw. 

"This?" Will held up the drink, "Its boba tea. Lily grabbed one for me on a supply run. And I thought you'd like to know that Chiron has approved a quest to search for Mnemosyne, provided we can actually find a lead. Hence the book."

Nico twisted his lip and sniffled. "So you're not here to coddle me and make sure I take my medicine like a good boy?" He rolled his eyes.

"Nope." Will shrugged. "You can take care of yourself. Of course if it gets worse, I trust you know when to come to the infirmary?" He asked.

Nico scoffed and flipped his wrist as he turned to go to the couch, as if to say _duh, now come inside._

Nico curled himself into the corner of the couch and pulled up a thick dark blanket, tissues within easy reach on a side table. Will plopped down close enough to reach, but far enough not to touch. He could sense that snuggling up to his boyfriend wouldn't be welcome right now, not with his current insistence on independence. Will handed over the legal pad and flipped open the crusty tome. 

"What do we know about Mnemosyne?" Nico asked, tapping the pen to his chin.

"Well..." Will flipped through the pages, "She's a Titan, one of Zeus' lovers, and the mother of the nine muses."

"And there's a pool in the Underworld named after her..." Nico added, "... and there used to be a cult focused on that pool."

Will raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah." Nico shrugged, "The Orphics- they would drink from the Mnemosyne instead of the Lethe so that they wouldn't be reincarnated." 

"I didn't know that." Will mused, "That's interesting that she has a connection to Hades. In the Apollo cabin we mostly associate her with the cult of Asclepius, or the Dark Prophet." 

"The medicine god?" 

"Yeah." Will shrugged. "People would give a sacrifice to Mnemosyne when they went to the cult for healing, so they would remember their dreams while they slept. That's why I brought this-" he held up the book, "it's a very old account of the Asclepian cult, but I don't think there are any clues as to where Mnemosyne is now."

"And the other thing? The Dark Prophet?"

"Yeah..." Will twisted his lip. "One of the Oracles way back when didn't turn out so well. Drove people mad. Somehow they got a hold of some chair Mnemosyne had made, and it was the only way to understand the prophecies. It might work for you, but it's a big risk." He sighed, "And no one has seen it in centuries." 

Nico sniffled and leaned his head back against the couch. "Too bad we can't contact any of the gods, or our friends. We could really use Ella or Annabeth right now."

"I know, right?" Will groaned, "But it is what it is. There's no one we can ask."

Nico sat up suddenly, too suddenly, and he had to reorient himself before speaking.

"Maybe not..." 

Will tilted his head, "What do you mean?" 

Nico shuffled closer, "We can't contact the gods, for who-knows what reason, and Iris messages don't work. But maybe..."

"Maybe..?"

Nico looked at Will, resignation in his eye, "The Muses aren't gods."

Will's face lit up with unbridled excitement and anticipation, "Do you mean?"

"I hate to say it, but yes." Nico groaned. "Our only hope is poetry."

\----------

Will chuckled as he made his way back to Nico's cabin that evening, plate of barbecue in hand. After a couple minutes of attempting to write epic poetry and it turning out simply awful, Nico had begun to wane. Will had left to let him sleep and attend his duties in the infirmary. 

He wondered if Nico had woken up and attempted more. Will grinned at the thought- the blonde was notoriously bad at poetry, but he had discovered that his boyfriend was equally horrible. While Will's attempts at haiku usually ended in a cringe-worthy pun, Nico's freeform emo poetry would fit right in on an early-2000's livejournal. 

There was no way they were going to summon Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry. 

No way in Hades. 

And yet, when Will pushed open the black door with plate in hand, there standing in Nico's living room was a woman in bright red Wellington boots and a 'laser cats in space' t-shirt, tears in her eyes laughing. There was a crown of ivy on her head that looked like it came straight from a Claire's, and a whoopee cushion poked out of the back pocket of her jean shorts, adorned with a "XD" emoji patch. 

Will gaped in abject confusion. 

Nico sat on the couch, mortified, and silently mouthed _I don't know_ to the blonde in the doorway.

"What the..." Will trailed off as he placed the plate on the table. Nico shrugged and whispered "She just showed up a second ago." Meanwhile the woman, who Will assumed was _one_ of the muses, finally regained her composure. 

"Ah!" She sighed, wiping a tear from her eye, "I haven't heard a haiku that punny in years. _The world's_..."

"Please don't repeat it." Nico interrupted. 

"Excuse me," Will said, "but who exactly are you?"

"Why, son of Apollo, I'm surprised you don't recognize me! I could forgive this dreary boy, but your father and we are _close_. It is I, Thalia!"

Nico raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "The only Thalia I know is the daughter of Zeus."

"Correct!" Thalia beamed. 

"She's a demigod," Nico said, "One of Artemis' hunters, and she would _never_ dress like that. You're not her. " 

Seeing the displeasure float across Thalia's face, Will interrupted. "What my socially challenged boyfriend means to say is that he knows a demigod, and a powerful one, that is named after you, my lady the _Muse of Comedic Poetry_." The last part he grit through his teeth in Nico's direction. Nico nodded slowly in understanding. "We are so glad you are here, Oh Thalia." Will continued, "We need to find your mother- Mnemosyne. Do you have any idea where she might be?" 

Thalia tapped her chin with her finger. "Hmmmm.... you know, I don't really know where Mom-osyne is nowadays. We don't really keep in touch. I'm the second-youngest, you see, not exactly her favorite. She's sort of boring, spouting tables and lines all day, not fun at all. But! There is someone who might know." She grinned. 

"Who?" Nico asked. 

Thalia grinned. "Ohhh no no no no no!" She cackled. "Not so fast. I will tell you what you wish to know, but first you must share your work. Poetry is useless if not shared!"

"Oh gods no..." Nico buried his face in his hands. 

"Tonight! At your bonfire!" Thalia continued boisterously. "Share your work, and I shall reveal your answer!" She twirled dramatically and disappeared into a puff of pink and green smoke. 

Will sat down next to Nico on the couch and gently pat his back. He reached to Nico's forehead and laid the back of his hand on it. "Well, your fever has broken, so you're free to attend the campfire. I wouldn't suggest it quite so soon, but... you know what you have to do. Might as well get it over with, right?"

"Kill me now."

"Oh come on!" Will smiled, "Its just a haiku, right? It can't be that bad."

"It's horrid." Nico groaned into his hands. "I was loopy from being sick, and I was trying to imitate you, and you're already bad at poetry. It's _so bad_ it summoned _Thalia_. And now I have to share it." He flopped back onto the couch into despair.

"It can't be as horrible as you say." Will soothed. "Let me see it."

Nico glared up at Will from his arms and reached into the cushions. He pulled out the legal pad and handed it over.

Will flipped through the pages and began to read some of the poetry Nico had penned that morning. 

" _Gods are like small kids_  
Short tempered, sometimes moody  
Please don't piss them off

"Seriously?" He chuckled, "That's almost irreverent. I like it.

_"Dearest queen Hera,_  
Save us from our bad writing,   
Smite us tonight please 

_Apollo's poetry_  
Bad like his taste in women   
At least he likes men 

__"Excuse you!" He chided, "My mother is a lovely person!"

"I didn't mean her specifically." Nico mumbled. "It's just a haiku."

"Yes, and I see you've moved on to limericks. Ugh.

" _There once were two boys who were in need,  
Of cool poetry for gods to read,  
They flunked every verse,  
And began to curse,  
From bad poetry they will never be freed._"

"These aren't _so_ bad..." The blond commented.

" _There once was a boy named Will  
Who tried to write poetry with thrill,  
But he had no tact  
For verse or impact,  
The son of Apollo had no skill_"

Will face Nico a flat look, but Nico shrugged it off.

"It's true?"

"You're right, but still."

"That rhymed." Nico smirked.

Will rolled his eyes, and composed a response: 

" _There once was a dark son of Hades,  
Who was quite often salty and shady,  
But then he met his annoyance,  
Who was sometimes clairvoyant,  
And also was good with the ladies._"

Nico tilted his head "I deserved that."

"Yes, yes you did." Will replied. "Which one summoned Thalia?"

"Next page." Nico groaned.

_"Sometimes I wonder  
If I'm really meant to be here   
This time, this place, this world.  
Would I have been better off..._" Will began to read aloud. 

"NOT that one!" Nico ripped the page from its adhesive. "The _next_ page." 

Will raised an eyebrow but wisely stayed silent. His eyes glanced downward at the single haiku at the top of the page.

There was silence as he read it. 

"I mean, you could just not." Will cringed. "That was really bad..." 

Nico shook his head, "Then I would lose my only lead to fixing my mind. I have to." He sighed, "But why _this one?_ " 

"Well then, if you're set on doing this..." Will stood and brushed off his knees, "...let's get going. Campfire starts in ten minutes." He grinned down at his boyfriend as Nico sighed dramatically. 

\----------

The nightly campfire was bright and warm, and Nico would have enjoyed it much more if the magical barrier around camp didn't keep out the cold January weather. He sat on a log near Will, who was joking amicably with his siblings. Nico twisted his ring and listened to the strumming of a guitar and a ukulele. He very rarely attended the nightly campfire- there were just too many people, and even now, not everyone at camp gave him a warm reception. 

He really didn't want to recite a stupid pun in front of everyone. 

Really. 

The campfire songs were over, leaving only the quiet murmurings of talking teenagers and the discordant plucking of strings. Time was running out.

 

The silver skull on his finger looped around and around his knuckle, doing nothing to calm his nerves. There was no way out of this, except giving up. 

He reached to the side and grabbed Will's freckled fingers. His boyfriend looked at him with a mix of surprise and concern, and smiled.

"You can do this." He whispered. "Then it will be over with, and we'll have our clue, and you can go rest." He squeezed Nico's hand.

Nico did not want to do this.

He wanted to run away, disappear into the shadows, be anywhere but here. 

Nico di Angelo did not run away- not anymore. He grit his teeth, took a deep breath, and stood.

The instruments went quiet and a hush fell over his fellow campers. 

They stared at him, waiting, wondering what the silent, reclusive, and intimidating son of Hades had to say. What sort of bad news would he bring? Were monsters coming? Was he going to announce someone's death? 

Nico cleared his throat. 

"I have something to say." He said solemnly. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and spoke. 

" _World's largest pickle,  
Pretty significant news.  
It was a big dill._"

Crickets chirped for all of three long, tense seconds before Kayla and a couple of the Hermes kids broke out into raucous laughter. 

Nico, his face red, sat down and pulled up his collar to hide his face, hoping this would all be worth it. 

Will grasped his hand behind the log they were sitting on and held it tight, and Nico couldn't tell if it was to comfort him or keep him from leaving.

Either way it worked. 

Suddenly out of the fire rose a plume of white smoke and a chorus of giggles. 

From the fog appeared Thalia, this time clad in a traditional white chiton, thank the gods. Her boots were an old Grecian style, and she was carrying a comedy mask.

"Well done!" She clapped, drawing the attention of the other campers. "Well done indeed, son of Hades!" 

She looked around at her audience and smiled. "Greetings, demigods! I am Thalia, Muse of Comedic Poetry, internet memes, and puns!"

A bust of multicolored fog rose from her ankles complete with lasers and glitter. 

"Okay so..." the smoke died down as she stepped out of the fire to sit cross-legged on the dirt.

"You've done as I asked and shared that _hilarious_ poem, so I'll give of the knowledge you seek." She grinned, her teeth wide and white. "The only person I can think of who might know where Mummy is now is my sister Clio, muse of History. She always was a stuffy old bean-counter."

A couple of the Athena kids shifted closer. 

Malcom interjected, "She hangs out at the Library of Congress? Right?"

Thalia shrugged, "She used to, but I think she's finally realized how boring that is- I haven't seen her there lately. I think she's gone a bit crazy, actually- she keeps _rapping,_ of all things. Not that I'm complaining, it's just weird for her. She goes on and on about some bastard orphan..."

"Son of a whore and a Scotsman?" Austin finished, his eyes lighting up.

Thalia nodded, "Yeah, that sounds familiar...", but she was drowned out by a chorus of Apollo campers and kids from other cabins reciting the verse

"Dropped in a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar!" They said in rhythm as Austin kept the beat on the wood of his guitar. 

"What whoa whoa hold up..." Will interrupted, "What'd I miss?"

The campers cheered as if he had made some joke while Will looked around in confusion. Nico shrugged sympathetically, equally lost. 

"I see you have everything you need to find my sister!" Thalia beamed.

"Wait, no, I don't know that this is!" Nico pleaded, but he was ignored.

"In that case, good luck!" Thalia said, "Tell mom hello for me if you find her!" And with that, she disappeared, leaving only ivy leaves on the dirt.

Austin clapped Will on the shoulder. "Seriously?" He chided, "You haven't heard of _Hamilton_ yet? Come on you two, I have much to show you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes there will be Hamilton


	11. Parting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously this chapter contains spoilers for Hamilton the musical.

"So I take it you found out what this _Hamilton_ thing is?" Nico asked dryly, spinning slowly on a desk chair in the infirmary. He had stopped by to get his official clean bill of health, and to talk to his boyfriend.

"It took thirty minutes for Austin to explain it to me without gushing, but yes." Will nodded as he plopped into a nearby chair, clipboard clattering on the desk. "Apparently it's all the rage on broadway right now- a hip-hop musical about Alexander Hamilton played by a cast of people of color. Austin has a cell cam copy burned on a DVD but he wouldn't let me watch it." 

"Hip-hop?" Nico's eyebrow raised, "You mean like... rap? In a broadway musical? About the founding fathers?" 

"Yup."

"That actually sounds...interesting." Nico twisted his lip as he sat back. "I can see why Clio would be hanging out there. So how do we get in to find her?"

"That's just it." Will sighed with a despondent shrug, "We can't."

Nico kicked the tile to spin the chair and rolled his eyes. "Will, I'm the son of the god of wealth, I'm sure..."

"The tickets are sold out for the next two years." Will interrupted dryly. 

Nico stopped spinning. 

"Damn, I can't wait that long." He cursed. "If only we knew someone famous enough to have season tickets or something."

Will raised an eyebrow this time. "How do you know so much about theatre?"

"My mom was an opera singer, remember?" Nico replied with a shrug. "The problem is connections- I hardly know any pop culture from this time period, let alone know anyone famous personally." 

Will tapped his pen to his temple and leaned against the infirmary wall. "There are lots of famous musicians who are children of Apollo, but I don't think that's enough weight to pull in a favor." 

"Yeah," Nico chuckled, mocking Will's voice, "Hello! I'm your half-brother by the god Apollo, who is currently a pimply mortal. We need tickets to see a sold-out show for tomorrow, give them to us please?" He snorted, "I doubt even Piper's charmspeak could win that case." 

Will nodded. "Yeah, that would be a long shot. Ironically he only other famous person we know is her dad, Tristan McLean, and that's only because of Mellie." 

"Mellie?" Nico swiveled in his chair to face Will. 

"The air spirit who's baby I delivered last autumn. Remember when I found you in the woods near the Athens Parthenon? I had just finished with her delivery. She's Tristan McLean's secretary." 

"Right... you were wearing all black in the middle of the day like an idiot." Nico leaned backward in his chair.

His boyfriend made a face, "Look who's talking," referring to Nico's habit of wearing nothing but black no matter what the season. 

"That's irrelevant." Nico waved him off playfully. "Isn't Mellie Coach Hedge's wife?" 

"Considering the baby was a satyr, I'm pretty sure that's the same Mellie, yes." Will said flatly. 

Nico grinned, a strange expression on him that Will still hasn't gotten used to. He doubted he ever would.

"Coach lives at Camp Jupiter full-time now, I'm pretty sure Hazel could deliver a message to him." 

"Great!" Will clapped. "But how are you going to get a message to Hazel?" He asked.

Nico stared at him flatly, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his Nokia-of-the-dead. 

"Ah, right." Will nodded. 

\---------

Three days and a clean bill  
of health later, Nico walked into the archery range where Will was practicing and handed him a paper shopping bag. 

"What's this?" Will asked as he quivered his arrow and put down his bow. 

"Take it and put it on, we're leaving in an hour." Nico replied surly.

Will took the bag and reached in, revealing a teal blue button-down shirt and grey slacks with a matching tie. 

"Uhhhhh.... not that I'm complaining, but where are we going exactly?" He asked. He hasn't figured Nico for the forward type, but recently he had been proven wrong. 

Nico shrugged with a wry smile. "We're picking up Piper from the airport and going to see Hamilton."

" _What!?!_ " he shouted excitedly, clutching the strings of the bag to his chest and drawing the attention of the other campers. He blushed and smoothed his hair, repeating softly, "What did you say?" 

Nico stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "The message got through, and since Mellie owed you a favor, she arranged it." He watched as Will's reaction morphed from confusion to shock. "Of course, Piper wants to see it too. I just got the message from Hazel this morning. Now go wash up and change, Jules-Albert will be waiting." Nico walked back to his cabin, presumably to change his own clothes. 

Once Nico was out of sight, Will let out a restrained sound that could only be described as glee. Tickets to a broadway play were hard to come by, especially on such short notice. It was truly amazing what Nico could do when he set his mind to it... 

Will couldn't believe that Nico had actually made this happen. The son of Hades was far too resourceful for his own good. He had thought that seeing Hamilton and finding Clio to get a lead on Mnemosyne would take a year, at least. By then, he had hoped Nico's memory problem would have sorted itself out, or Nico would have learned to live with a couple of limitations.

Honestly, Nico was becoming self-destructive in his search for a cure. He had put his mind to finding one and yet, was it necessary? While his memory episodes were occasionally concerning, it wasn't anything life-threatening. The only real danger was having an episode while fighting monsters alone, which was easily remedied by _not fighting monsters alone._ No demigod went off on dangerous quests by themselves; Nico had only gotten away with it for so long because of his stubbornness and tendency to shut himself away. To be so adamant on finding a cure just so he could put himself in danger...

There were some things that simply weren't treatable. Will had learned this many years ago in the medical field. Plenty of people lived full and happy lives with their own limitations, once they accepted them. But Will had also seen too many cases of people driven mad searching their whole lives for a cure that would never exist... he wanted to be supportive of his boyfriend, but at the same time, if this wasn't something that _could_ be fixed... 

Will didn't think it was the memories that would drive Nico mad. 

\-----------

When Piper stepped through the automatic doors into the cold air of La Guardia airport in January, there was a sleek Rolls Royce waiting for her. Standing next to it was Nico di Angelo in an equally sleek black suit and a grey shirt. 

"Nico!" She jogged over, going in for a hug but stopping herself to settle on a shoulder-grab. "You're looking well." She smiled.

"Thanks." He replied, opening the car door. Piper lifted her asymmetric orange dress and slid in next to Will. Nico walked to the other side and sat down, sandwiching his boyfriend in the middle. 

"Nous sommes prêts, Jules-Albert." Nico said softly to the undead driver. 

Jules-Albert muttered as he shifted into drive, "La jeune fille semble mieux à côté de lui que toi, gamin..."

Nico grit his teeth, making Will wonder if the chauffeur had insulted him  
somehow, but before he could ask, Piper responded.

"Tout semble bien à côté de moi, sauf peut-être vous." She said with a smirk. 

The chauffeur laughed in his strange half-rotted way, and replied with a thick French accent "I like zis girl," before speeding into traffic. 

Will looked at the demigods surrounding him in confusion, but Nico shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah," Piper chuckled, "I think I just made a friend."

Will looked askance, "I was more surprised that he actually speaks English, all I've ever heard is French!" He chuckled. 

Piper laughed as well, and Nico even smiled a bit. 

"So I have to know... " Piper began, "Not that I'm complaining, but why did you two so urgently need tickets to Hamilton of all things?" 

"We need to find Mnemosyne." Nico responded cryptically.

"Who?" She asked, confused. 

"The goddess of memory." Nico replied curtly. "Hazel gave me some advice, about there always being a third path when you think there are only two options. Mnemosyne is my third path, I'm sure of it."

Piper turned to Will with a clear expression of 'help, please?' written on her face. 

Will sighed and explained to her how they had decided to ask Mnemosyne for help after their trip to the underworld revealed only two unappealing options, and their attempts to contact her this far. 

"So in order to contact Mnemosyne, you summoned a muse with a pun?" She teased, grinning, as Nico nodded to confirm. "What was it?"

"Nothing I'm repeating." Nico blushed. 

"It was horrid." Will shook his head. "But we did learn that Clio is the only one who knows where Mnemosyne is, and right now Clio hangs out at Hamilton. So that's why we need tickets: to get to Mnemosyne." 

Piper nodded. "Well if I was anyone else, I'd say this was crazy, but that sounds about right for you, Nico." 

Nico bristled at the comment and the cabin went a little cooler. 

Will glanced first to Nico with concerned eyes, then to her with a look she didn't want to interpret. 

Piper could instantly sense Nico's shift in mood, bitterness overtaking the tiny bit of excitement he had and then morphing into what felt like determination. She began to regret her comment, not realizing exactly what had provoked this reaction. What had she said? Did Nico... 

Did Nico think he was actually insane? 

Before Piper could consider it further, Jules-Albert spoke.

"We have arrived." He parked the car and opened her door. 

"That was a very short ride..." Will commented, puzzled. "Where was all the traffic?"

Jules-Albert only grinned at him with his half-rotted jaw. 

They were parked under the three marble arches of the Richard Rogers theatre, the lighted marquis reflecting in the car's recent wax job. The demigods shuffled out and straightened their attire, making quite the striking group in orange, blue, and black, still with the awkward air about them. 

More striking still was a figure before them, instantly recognizable as Clio, muse of historical poetry... at least to demigod eyes.

She was dressed exactly as one would expect a muse to be clothed in the modern day; a white Greek-style evening gown spilled over her dark-skinned shoulders and strapped heels. Her thick, textured hair was tied back elegantly. 

Nico walked up to her with the bearing of a prince. "Excuse me, you are Clio, I presume?" 

Clio's eyes glittered. "Yes, young demigod!" She beamed, "I have been expecting you, and I see you have brought friends! This is excellent! Let us go and find our seats! And _look!_ A son of Apollo!" She strutted to Will and clapped him on the shoulders, "You must be so excited to see this poetic masterpiece! Come, come!" She turned to enter the theatre, motioning for the demigods to follow.

"Actually," Nico began, teetering after her, "I was hoping you could..."

"It's so nice to be remembered..." Clio reminisced, to Nico's annoyance, "...to be actively _sought out_ by young adults these days; historical poetry is a dying art you know." She winked at him and whispered, "now come, come, I'll answer your questions after the show." 

Nico turned to his two friends for backup, but Piper simply shrugged and Will was much too excited to be at a broadway musical. Nico rolled his eyes and went into the theatre.

By some coincidence that Will suspected was Muse-ly intervention, Clio was seated in the same box as the demigods. If the knowing smile on her face was anything to go by, that was. For all her aplomb at first glance, she was very much the excited, dare he think it, _nerd_ about this show. 

Clio somehow sandwiched herself between Nico and Will, eyes bright with joy. "This is so much more exciting than the library of congress." She squeaked quietly, "I've been to every showing since day one, you see. When I felt the call of inspiration to a young man reading on a beach, I knew this Lin-Manuel fellow would be the one to revive historical poetry. He's your brother, you know." She patted Will on the arm. "And look now! A hip-hop musical about one of Athena's greatest sons, and a founding father to boot!"

Piper leaned over Nico from his left. "Alexander Hamilton was a demigod?" She asked.

"Oh yes!" Clio clapped her hands quickly, "Athena was enamored with his mother. He trained at Camp Half-Blood back in the early 1770's, when he arrived in New York. His mortal father found out that Alexander wasn't his child you see, and abandoned them both. His satyr took over after his mother died, but unfortunately he died on the ship bringing Alex here- it burst into flames in the harbor, you know. They can't replicate that onstage, but...

The orchestra began tuning.

"Oh it's starting! Listen closely, you'll see." The muse grinned widely as the house lights went down.

\-------

Intermission came, much to Nico's relief. Although the play itself was highly entertaining, Clio wouldn't stop talking to his boyfriend about poetry-this and slant-rhyme-that and this-is-a-reference-to-whatever. He knew Will was just trying to play nice with one of his father's most famous lovers, but the way Clio kept hanging on his arm was seriously getting on Nico's nerves. 

He excused himself to the restroom, leaving Piper and Will with the ancient chatterbox. 

As he made his way through the throngs of people clamoring for overpriced drinks and merchandise, he couldn't help thinking about one of the lines from a song he had heard. It had struck a chord with him, sung by a character that he could identify with. 

_If there's a reason I'm still alive when everyone who loves me has died, then I'm willing to wait for it..._

Everyone he had known as a child was dead. His mother, Bianca, his friends from Italy... even some of his friends from this century had left him. Leo's face drifted through his mind before he shook it away.

Would it be fair to them to forget everything they had done? Just so that he could live in peace? Is that what Bianca would have wanted for him? He didn't want to forget everything he already had, and yet... how much of what he had lost was there left to remember? How long would this last? Would he be encumbered by these flashbacks for the rest of his life, or would there be an end to this?

If Nico couldn't find a way to stop it, how long would he have to wait for it? 

Could he afford to? 

\-----------

Meanwhile back at the box, Piper saw her opportunity to find out what was going on with Nico and closed in. 

"Excuse me, Lady Clio," she said with a charming smile, "But could I borrow Will for a moment?"

"Oh of course!" Clio smiled, her teeth brilliant against her dark lips. "I'll be right back! Do you children want any snacks?"

"No, thank you." She smiled. As Clio left, Piper scooted over to sit next to the blond. "She's got a lot to say, huh?" 

"Tell me about it." Will sagged, "I like history and poetry, but I don't want to break it to her that I'm no good at it, not when she has the answers Nico wants."

"Speaking of Nico, how's he doing?" She asked. "Back in the car, I think I upset him... I could sense he felt...This is going to sound blunt but...does Nico think he's insane?"

Will sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair, Piper could sense the frustration within him. 

"There's not much I can say, confidentially," Will began, "But the children of Hades have a strong history of going absolutely murderously bonkers, and anyone would be scared of that, I think. This flashback situation, and how Nico has lived independently for the past three years... you can guess the possible ramifications." 

"I think so, yeah." Piper frowned. No wonder Nico was in such a bad mood; he had a deeply set fear and she had unknowingly made a joke about it. She had messed up. Nico was probably even more anxious after that comment. Piper only hoped she could find the right moment to apologize. 

"That's my seat." Nico suddenly said behind her. Piper jumped, hand reaching to her hip before she realized who it was. 

"Gods, Nico, you scared me!" She said, relieved. "You're too good at moving quietly!" She shuffled back to her own seat.

Nico grabbed Will's hand and pulled him up, his eyes dark and dominant. He guided Will to Clio's seat, and then sat in his own with nary a word on the matter.

Will flushed with a mix of embarrassment and... something else... before sitting down and crossing his legs. Nico grabbed his hand and held it tight, refusing to let go or look at his boyfriend. 

When Clio returned with a box of popcorn, she saw a blushing Will sitting next to his surly boyfriend. Said boyfriend was regarding her with a challenging stare. Knowingly, she smiled and sat to Will's right before the curtain rose on Act II. 

The music began with a beat, and the chant of _Seventeen... seh seh seventeen..._ as the lights went dark. Now that the ugly beast of jealously had calmed down, Nico could actually enjoy this play. The music _was_ catchy, and he wouldn't be surprised if more songs lodged themselves in his brain later. Still, that chorus from the first act repeated in his mind. 

He could relate to this Burr character- he was ambitious, but hesitant about it. He only wanted success to please his parents... who weren't even there. Nico had been like that once, desperate to be the demigod the Great Prophecy spoke of, yearning to earn his father's favor. 

He had nearly lost them the war. 

Nico was never going to be that hero. He was too much of a loner. A hero needed friends and Nico... Nico never had that luxury. 

Percy would say that Nico was more like the French character, Lafayette: foreign, friendly, and left for a long time to come back with enough artillery to win the war. 

But Nico knew better. He was never Percy's friend, he was an obstacle for the son of Poseidon to overcome and turn to his side. He was Aaron Burr. 

Ah, here he was again, in the spotlight. 

_Now I'm the villain in your history... I was too young and blind to see..._

That had almost been him. If Nico hadn't given up his dream of attaining his father's favor, if he had kept Percy in his cell after Hades' betrayal... 

The Titans would rule the earth, and it would be all Nico's fault. 

As the final chorus rang, Nico wondered how many times he had been a potential catalyst of the world's destruction. He shook the thought from his mind and clapped as the actors bowed, rising with the rest of the audience as the curtain closed.

"Holy wow, that ending!" Will gasped as he flopped into his seat after the standing ovation. "I mean, I knew it was coming because, you know, _history,_ but the way it was presented?"

"Yes! Yes, I know!" Clio nodded enthusiastically. "Of course a few things are inaccurate- Burr was neither young nor blind near the end of Hamilton's life, but I can overlook such things for the dramatic effect. And the characterization!"

"Amazing!" Will sighed. "How Hamilton's unwillingness to take a break or accept help from anyone eventually led to his ruination, how Burr's reluctance to act was his ultimate downfall, how their defining characteristics almost switched places in the climactic moment..! I can't believe this is based on actual events!"

Clio beamed, "It's true! Ah how I love the feeling when someone comes to a new appreciation of my art! And did you notice," she said with intent, eyeing Nico from the side, "Which of the characters ended happily, Mr. di Angelo?"

Nico turned to the muse. "None of them." He answered, "But that's beside the point." 

"Ah yes, your quest." Clio stood and brushed off her dress, sadness in her eyes. "You wish to know where the goddess of memory waits, correct?"

"Yes. Please." Nico said impatiently, "I want these memories to stop as soon as possible." 

Clio shook her head, her lips thin. "I have been deliberating this night on what to tell you, young demigods." She sighed. It was a stark change from the bubbly and geeky history buff that had been sitting with for the past three hours. "You ask the wrong question of me. Shall I answer your question as it stands, and lead you on the path to ruin, or answer the question you forgot to consider? Which choice to choose?"

Clio fiddled with her playbill. 

"But I have decided. Apollo may be my lover but he is not the only one who can predict the future- as they say, history repeats itself. And so I tell you this: The question you should ask is not 'Where is Mnemosyne', but instead 'Does Mnemosyne have the power to help me?' And therein lies the answer that will save you much heartache." 

The demigods waited for her answer with baited breath. 

Finally, in the now-deserted theatre, Clio spoke. 

"My mother, Mnemosyne, cannot help you."

Both Nico and Piper opened their mouths to protest, but Clio raised her hand for silence. 

"The goddess Mnemosyne lost her power long ago, when she was forgotten. Her throne has also been lost. It is true that I know where she rests, but to send you to her would be a useless endeavor."

The son of Hades clenched his fist. "You mean to tell me that I went through all of this for nothing?" Nico fumed through his teeth, keeping his voice low. 

"Not for nothing," Clio replied with a knowing smile, "Assuming you have _learned_ anything on your journey. Remember what you have seen here this night. You have a unique opportunity son of Hades- you have the chance to regain what was taken from you. To regain your own lost history is a _blessing._ "

Nico clenched teeth, keeping the poisoned words he was thinking from spilling out. His mother had taught him better than that. "I'd rather have a future than regain my past." He finally replied softly. 

Clio shook her head solemnly. "Your future awaits, of this I'm sure, but Mnemosyne is not the path for you. Look at your own history, and that of your family, and you will find the answer you seek." She said with a solemn smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a midnight appointment with a schoolteacher trying to set her students straight regarding the Civil War." 

As Clio faded into the air like burned parchment, Nico flopped back into his seat in despair. 

Will and Piper sat down as well, unsure of what to say. The silence was tense and heavy as the demigods wrestled with varying levels of confusion, disappointment, and anger. Piper could feel it all. 

"Can I ask you something?" She said trying to ease the tension. Nico shrugged. "Why do you want to stop remembering so badly? I figured you would want to know everything you could about your childhood." 

Nico sighed and leaned forward onto his knees. 

"I used to want to know everything about my past, and I didn't care about my future." He sighed. "It destroyed me, Piper. I nearly... I nearly destroyed _myself_. You weren't there for the first war against the Titans, but I... I made a deal with Hades, my father. I wanted to know about my mother _so badly_ that I tricked Percy into coming to the underworld. My dad tricked me too, but that doesn't matter. We nearly lost the war because of _me_. Because I wanted to know my past." He took a shaky breath and fiddled with the ring his father had given him. "I gave up on all of it. When I decided that I _wanted_ a future, that maybe I had something to live for... I left that desire behind. But just my luck, only _now_ do I start remembering?" He shook his head. "No. I'm not going to be the plaything of Olympus so they can watch me squirm on their televisions any longer, not when it's destroying my life. If the price of knowing my past is that I lose my _independence_ , I don't want it, even if I have to find a way to do it myself." 

"You're still dead set on doing this yourself." Will muttered as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. 

Nico turned, "It's _my_ mind, my problem." 

"There are people that care about you, Nico!" Will waved his hand, "You don't exist in a vacuum! People that know you are hurting and want to help!"

"I've never needed anyone else and I don't..." 

"Why is it so hard for you to accept help from people who are willing to give it?" Will fumed, his expression dark. "Why can't you accept that maybe, just maybe, someone actually _cares_ about you?" He panted, not letting Nico get a word in. "Who stayed with you all night when you had your first flashback? Who snapped you out of it when you remembered the war? Who made sure you didn't have an episode in the pavilion in front of everyone, just because you'd be embarrassed?" He paused to breathe, "Who held you in the Big House? Who accompanied you to the underworld just so you could ask your father for answers? Hazel, Piper, Frank, _me_ , Nico. We actually _care_ about you." The beginnings of tears glistened at the corners of Will's eyes. He wiped them away furiously. 

"I don't want..!" Nico began, 

"You don't want anyone's help, huh? You're so desperate to be independent that you'll push away all your friends?" Will stood, "You don't need it? Fine. If you want to _fix_ this so badly, find someone else. I'm not going to enable your self-destructive behavior any longer." 

Nico stood, his eyes dark and steely.

"I will." 

Shadows began to creep up from beneath his seat, wrapping around his legs and melding with the dark fabric of his suit. 

Will's eyes widened, realizing what Nico was about to do. He reached forward to grab hold of him, but it was too late. 

In a flash of blinding darkness, they were gone. 

Will was alone in the deserted theatre.

Utterly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should only be one or two more chapters after this. I aim to hav ethics story complete before the anniversary of why publication date. As always, your comments give me life and kick me out of depression enough to get back to writing. Please feel free to discuss the story with me and ask questions.


	12. Two Kinds of Idiocy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These boys are idiots.

Piper honestly wasn't sure what she was expecting when she grabbed Nico's suit jacket, but not being able to breathe wasn't one of the options. She had acted on impulse, as she often did. Nico was going smoky and she reached out, simple as that. 

But now her tongue was swelling in her mouth as she tried to gasp for air in a vacuum, strange dark shapes whizzing through her vision and the sound of screams surrounding her. She reached forward to grab Nico's arm. He looked back and caught her eye, and immediately they were on solid ground with sweet, sweet oxygen.

"What the..." Nico began angrily, before he swayed and flopped hard onto his backside. 

Piper was too busy regaining brain function to reply. She fell to her knees, grasping her throat, and forced herself to take deep breaths. 

Nico sat with his head between his hands, trying to ward off dizziness. 

"Never do that again." He moaned quietly. 

"Sorry." Piper choked. "I saw you leaving and just... held on. I had to make sure you were alright." She swallowed and coughed. "That was shadow-traveling, right? I can see why it nearly killed you."

Nico twisted his lip and looked up. " _You_ nearly killed me just now, hopping on like that. I wasn't prepared to take two." 

Piper sat up and shrugged. "Does nearly dying myself make up for it?" 

Nico cracked a small, exhausted smile and huffed. "Sure."

They sat in somewhat companionable silence for a minute, regaining their breath. Nico's stomach grumbled and he winced. If he were wearing his leather jacket he would’ve had an emergency granola bar, or something. But his new suit jacket had nothing but the essentials. 

"So um...." Piper looked around. It was dark and wet and very... urban. She was sitting on concrete and it smelled like stale water and bad takeout. 

"Where exactly... are we?" 

Nico finally took in his surroundings.  
"It looks like we're under the overpass near Marginal and Pleasant."

Piper blinked at him.

"We're in New Jersey near the bridge to New York." 

"Oh." Piper nodded. "And why are we under a very specific bridge in New Jersey?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I was _trying_ to go back to Camp, but I only put enough... _oomph_ in for one person. When I realized you had grabbed me... this was the closest safe place I knew."

"This is a safe place?" Piper raised a questioning eyebrow, "And isn't Camp in the other direction?"

"Shadow traveling isn't linear." Nico shook his head. "And yes, this is a safe place. I spent a couple months here with a friend and I didn't die." 

Piper could only describe the expression on his face as a pout. A surly, proud pout. 

"I... I'm gonna leave that statement alone and come back to it later..." Piper said hesitantly, not wanting to delve too deep into Nico's apparently homeless past. That was a whole 'nother can of worms. "... and get to the real issue at hand. You're not okay, Nico."

The son of Hades bristled. 

"I don't mean like crazy not-okay! Also I'm so sorry about that comment earlier. It was in poor taste and I didn't mean it that way. You're not insane. But you're obviously _very_ upset about something, and I don't think you've really had a chance to let it all out? So..." she paused, waiting for Nico to look at her.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

Years later, Nico would jokingly accuse Piper of using charmspeak on him, but she would never confirm or deny. Whether it was Aphrodite's gift or simply Nico's need to vent, it all came tumbling out; his frustration with the Gods and his own memories, his relationship with Will and the blurred lines between doctor and boyfriend, his desire to know his past and his conflicting need to not rely on anyone for anything. Everything that he had bottled up came rushing out, to Piper of all people. 

Nico alternated between clenching his fists and fiddling with his silver ring, sitting under a dirty bridge and spilling his secrets to someone who was not quite a friend, but definitely an ally. 

"It all makes me feel... helpless, I guess." Nico said quietly, "When Bianca... my sister... left me to join the Hunters, and then died... there was nothing I could do to stop it, or bring her back. It just feels like... I've tried everything I can think of to make this stop, or control it, and nothing has worked."

Piper scooted closer to Nico and hesitantly placed a gentle hand on his forearm. "I understand." She said, her expression sincere. "All this time you've been able to rely on yourself and no one else, and now things are out of your control and you want nothing more than to go back to how it was."

Nico nodded. 

Piper nodded. "You're adjusting to a major change, and it's hard. You've denied it, moped about it, tried to change it, been derailed in your efforts, and now you're angry. You're angry at the fates, angry at your boyfriend, angry at yourself, angry at me even. That's ok, being angry is part of grief, Nico." Piper soothed, "but unless there is _anything_ else you can think to do, you'll have to accept it soon."

"That's the problem." Nico huffed. "Hazel said there was always another path and Clio said the same thing. There's something I'm missing, I just can't _see it._ " He slammed his fist into the concrete floor. 

\----------

The theatre was empty save for one blond demigod. 

" _If you want to fix this so badly, find someone else._ "

The words echoed in his head, making his tongue turn to ash. 

Will stifled a sob. 

How could he have said that? What sort of doctor was he, telling someone who wanted and needed help to go away? It went against the oath he planned to one day swear ... not only that, but he had chased his boyfriend away. 

He had pushed Nico too hard, and now he would probably never return. Will was the only thing keeping him at camp, keeping him where he was _safe..._ If Nico never returned to camp, if he was killed by a monster or starved on the cold streets of some city somewhere... it would be Will's fault. 

He couldn't go looking for him either... Nico could be anywhere in the world by now. 

He sniffed and rubbed his eyes.

At least he wasn't alone- Piper had grabbed him before he phased out. So Nico had someone to fight by his side if he landed in a den of dracenae or something. 

Nico would make sure Piper got home, at least. 

Hopefully. 

Being a lone demigod in the city... Will couldn't imagine what that was like.

Then his stomach lurched as he realized: Will _was_ a lone demigod in the city. He had no weapons, no phone, and with communications down, he had no way to call for help. He couldn't summon Jules-Albert to get home, couldn't send an Iris-message... all he had in his pants pocket was a couple of bandaids, some hand sanitizer, and his wallet. 

Wiping a frustrated tear from his cheek, Will stuffed the playbill into his pocket and headed for the theatre lobby. Maybe he had enough for a cab to Long Island? 

\-----------

"Are you absolutely sure there's another way out?" Piper asked hesitantly. After hearing the details of Nico's situation, it all seemed pretty ironclad. Black and white. No grey areas to exploit. He could either stop remembering entirely and become a blank slate, or risk going insane to get them all back at once. 

"I'm sure of it. There _has_ to be! Hazel wouldn't lie to me." Nico seethed. 

"Hey, hey... I believe you." She replied soothingly, seeing how stressed Nico was becoming. She had to steer his emotion towards something more productive. "We just have to figure it out. When Hazel said to examine your history and your family, what did she mean?"

"I have no idea, my whole family is either dead or crazy. Or both." He huffed. 

Piper frowned. "Hazel's not crazy." 

"Not now but she _was_." Nico brushed the hair from his forehead. "She used to have flashbacks too- that's why I asked her in the first place." _She also used to be dead,_ Nico thought to himself, that wasn't something Piper needed to know.

"Used to." Piper repeated. "As in she's not crazy now. So what did Hazel do to make her flashbacks stop?"

Nico frowned, confused. "Nothing?" 

Piper shifted and sat up straighter. "Have you tried doing nothing?" 

Nico leveled her with a deadpan look that spoke volumes. No, it was not something he had considered, and what the hell was she talking about. 

"Okay, so there's this video game that my dad turned down being in because he never plays Native American characters, and I don't really play video games but this one seemed interesting and I _swear_ this is relevant so stop giving me that look." She pouted. Nico rolled his eyes and paid attention. 

"It's called _Until Dawn_ and you play it by making choices at certain moments to affect how the story goes. Sometimes you're under pressure to make a choice that seems binary, but if you wait too long and time runs out, there's a third set of consequences. And sometimes, that's the right thing to do, because the two choices staring you in the face were just there to distract you." 

Nico twisted his ring. "You think I should just... wait? And it will stop?"

"Worked for Hazel didn't it?" 

Nico reached into his jacket pocket and dig out his phone. 

Piper's eyes widened as she scooted backward. "Why do you have a cell phone? You _do_ know those attract monsters?" 

Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he knew cell signals attracted monsters. "It's an LG, Lethe-Ghost phone. It's just for contacting Underworld deities, like dad and Thanos. But Hazel also has one, so in a pinch..." 

He pressed a button and held it to his ear. 

"Hazel? I've got something to ask you." 

\-------

After finding zero dollars in mortal money in his wallet and the theatre closing for the night, Will found himself walking vaguely north in an attempt get to Central Park. At least on Manhattan all the streets were conveniently numbered, he thought to himself with a sigh. Hopefully there was a nymph or dryad in the park that would help him out. 

He walked until the insoles of his dress shoes came away from their glue and gave him blisters, but after an hour or so he made it to the south border of Central Park. He headed inward, away from the bustling avenue, and into the trees. 

During the daylight this was a beautiful place, filled with greenery and bicycles and ice cream vendors. At night it was... strange. It wasn’t quiet, New York City never was, but it was certainly a different sort of noise. An unsettling one. 

Looming in the near distance was a figure, no- it was far too tall to be a person. It was a statue, bronze and old and standing on a pedestal in a small courtyard. Curious, Will walked closer and examined the plaque.

_William Shakespeare_

Of course, how ironic. 

Will chuckled at his situation- what were the odds that the very person that had guided him in the underworld- his sibling and namesake- would be the one to guide him during a dark time in his life? 

“Hey there, Bill.” He asked the statue, feeling ridiculous, “Mind helping me out?”

The statue stood silent. Maybe the odds were too astronomical, even for a Greek myth. Maybe all the automatons in Central Park had been deactivated after the War of the Gods. 

Feeling hopeless, Will flopped onto one of the benches facing his namesake. It was cold, and hard, and the slats made it none to comfortable. There was a homeless man curled up on one of the other benches, snoring faintly. 

Nico was there, once. All too often Will forgot that after Nico left camp the first time, he didn’t go back to a loving family, or even a broken one. He had been out on the streets, just like that poor fellow across from him now. That’s where his independent streak had grown so wide-out of necessity. 

And how long had he been with Will?

Four months.

Four months was not enough time to undo the damage wrought by years of...  
...of...  
... of desperation. 

He shouldn’t have taken it personally, Will thought as he curled up on the bench to take a nap himself. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t Nico’s fault either. Will had pit do much of his pride as a doctor, as a partner, and as a friend on Nico getting better, and it had ruined everything. 

Nico wasn’t a project. He was a _person_ , and gods damnit Will loved him. 

He just hoped Nico still had it left in him to love him in return.

Will closed his eyes and tried to still his mind, but something rustled overhead. He cracked his eye open and glanced up, and only one thing went through his brain at what we saw.

_Schist!_

\------------

"You're overthinking it." Nico could hear the smile in his sisters voice over the static of the old flip phone. "It's exactly what Piper said. When you come to the crossroads, the third choice is to go back the way you came. In your case, that's doing nothing." 

Nico let out an annoyed sigh. "Why couldn't you just _tell_ me that a week ago?" He chided.

"A week ago you wouldn't have believed me!" She replied. "Fresh from the underworld, too distraught and _stubborn_ to think straight. You would've laughed in my face!" 

Hazel was calling him out and she was absolutely right. It made Nico blush. Piper giggled quietly, despite The glare he was sending her way. Witnessing someone chewing out the dark-and-brooding son of Hades was a rare sight indeed. 

"So you're saying I'm supposed to... what... let the memories happen? Be dependent on others to pick me up when I fall for the rest of my life?" He droned sarcastically. 

"Exactly." Hazel's voice was bubbly. "The memories stopped for me once I remembered everything, they should do the same for you too! You're not the only one that's been through this- even Percy and Jason got everything back eventually. You just have to let it happen!" 

Piper cocked her head. "That is true, the bit about Jason." 

Nico blinked at her, skeptical. "But that's eventually, what about now?" He asked both of them. "Percy and Jason got their memories back through dreams! I could have one any time. Even in the middle of a fight! You think I should just let other people fight my battles for me?" 

Piper's eye-roll coincided perfectly with Hazel's sigh over the phone. 

"Stop trying to be a hero and let people help you!" Came at the same time as "No, just don't fight alone! Literally!"

Then Hazel's frustrated admonition, "Just because Bianca left you alone once doesn't mean you have to stay alone forever! Let the people who care about you _help_ you, you idiot! I had memories come back at random times too, remember? I went completely comatose at any time of day! But you know what? I got through it. I _trusted_ my friends to have my back, and they did! I get that you've been betrayed before, but don't let one bad experience ruin your whole life, Nico! You taught me that, now do it yourself! Speaking as your sister, Bianca wouldn't want you to suffer because of her mistake. So stop it." 

Nico let the phone descend slowly into his lap. Piper couldn't meet his eyes. Softly, Hazel's voice chattered flustered apologies, her accent growing thicker in her haste. 

"Nico?" Piper urged softly.

Nico scrambled to his feet, clutching the phone in his fist. "Alone..." he mumbled. "Will... I left him, and you're _here_... Will is alone." He looked at Piper, eyes determined and a bit scared. "He's a demigod, with no weapons, in New York, and I left him alone."

He brought the phone to his ear. "Hazel I'll have to call you back." He flipped it shut, pocketed the device, and held out his hand. "We have to go back for Will."

Piper hesitated. "Nico... you're shaking. Are you sure you're ok to do that shadow-thing again?" 

"Absolutely not." He said firmly. "But we have to. And besides, if I pass out, you'll watch my back, right?"

"Duh.” Piper smiled, "That's what friends are for!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I’m still alive. Thank you for your notes- they keep me going. I’ve written a little more of this every time I get a note, as after putting it away and forgetting about it you all remind me that yes, I need to finish this. 
> 
> Next chapter will wrap everything up... whenever that gets finished...


End file.
